1. Governments love self-drive cars because they can see huge reduction in accidents meaning lower hospital and welfare costs; and new roads won't be needed as existing ones used far more efficiently
2. Regulators love self-drive cars because will cut their budget costs for policing and for cleaning up after accidents
MONEY is a huge motivator for legislators and regulators - every dollar saved can go to someone's pet project
Uber is making a big investment because drivers are their biggest cost. Uber board member Steve Jurvetson recently commented that if Tesla developed an autonomous vehicle, Uber would buy half a million of them in 2020.
6. Motorists
95% of drivers want self-drive cars because they like idea of doing something else on commute or shopping run or kid delivery to school - being able to do something productive, or just relax instead of wasting time controlling car is a huge plus in almost every driving situation.
The 5% of drivers who want to do their own thing will be outvoted and will have to organize alternative places to drive, just as equine enthusiasts have
Cars (most notably from Google and Tesla) can already handle routine driving and maintain a safe speed. We won’t be handing over the steering wheel this year, but we will begin the prep work: talking about regulations, figuring out the best ways to apply the technology, and testing how humans interact with these vehicles.