Autobraking for accidents only, is a "self driving" feature that you can buy right NOW on most 2017 cars.
Auto braking alone could save 10s of thousands of lives every year, and it is absolutely production ready.
The technology has been around, but it isn't deployed to the majority of cars yet.
What I am saying is that self driving technology doesn't have to be perfect for it to change the world.
It doesn't matter if we are a ways away from getting to the "nobody owns a car, and everyone just uses self driving Ubers" future. Because the current, shit accident prevention technology can ALREADY change the world, even if it is "just" by cutting accidents in half and saving "only" 40,000 lives every year.
Incremental improvements that save lives and make driving better are fantastic. Overselling a feature that can kill people is not.
As a thought experiment, just imagine how every daily activity is improved by self driving cars; not just relaxing while driving to work, but automatic transportation of children to school, removal of the annoying of finding a parking spot at a grocery store. Social activities are made much more convenient; having drinks with a friend, picking up parents from the airport, lending your car to the neighbor. And there is the potential of a world in which car ownership is itself redundant, and we are only speaking about lag time and comfort for transportation.