Comment by MegaButts

Based on what I hear from those in the know, the perception is that it's decades away instead of years. And an even more complicated problem isn't whether or not they can make it work with considerable constraints (geofence, no highways, avoid several spots that are hard to handle, weather, assistance via remote operation when stuck), but how to do it profitably. The cars are expensive. The maintenance is expensive. The ongoing cleaning, charging, and prepping of vehicles is expensive. Constantly updating HD maps is expensive. Of course the engineers to keep everything running smoothly are expensive. And the small army of people you need to actually talk to and help customers - something Google has basically never done before - is expensive.

I love the idea of self-driving cars and I really can't wait until they're ready. But I'd say that's going to happen about as quickly as changing the infrastructure in this country. Personally I'd rather have better public transit anyway.