I think the appeal of self-driving to car manufacturers is that if it can be made to work, the households who actually buy new vehicles, affluent suburbanites,

I think the appeal of self-driving to car manufacturers is that if it can be made to work, the households who actually buy new vehicles, affluent suburbanites, will buy more of them. Instead of just one car per adult in the household (and maybe recreational vehicles as well), these households will buy one per adult and up to one per child over six years old (plus recreational vehicles as before).