Convenince has historically proven the industrial era and beyond killer app. Availability is part of the issue - it would increase car utilization but probably

Convenince has historically proven the industrial era and beyond killer app. Availability is part of the issue - it would increase car utilization but probably not people in a car at once. They would care less about "my car isn't available because it is out working" if they could get a replacement. They also don't need to give their time driving passengers. Self driving also could allow better "microroutes" which don't take you out of the way like public transit. It wouldn't address the stranger adversion however. Ironically in the worst case it may technically reduce the average occupancy even if the total utilization rises and thus number of cars on the road drops for the same demand.