If the current model of owning cars is kept, I see self driving cars being released within 10 years, but not catching on until 25+ years. Otherwise it will be like a Tesla car, very expensive with the new tech, with no future outlook of when it will really become affordable by the average joe. Perhaps once generation 3 or 4 of the tech passes and components are cheaper and more widely produced will self driving cars finally be affordable by the average person. Until then, it will have to be a hybrid of manual vs self drive cars. Unless of course the governments abandon the existing industry model and subsidizes the manufacturing of the cars to bring them into an affordable range from the beginning.
Comparing all these features like ABS, traction control etc though to self driving cars is not the same. All of those are assists, with the human still making the first decision (ie, hitting the brake pedal, steering the wheel). If you wanted to, compare self driving to features such as automatic collision braking, etc. However, most people don't have that again due to price even though tech has been around a long time.
It's such a complex issue that we don't have any idea on what direction this will be taken or how it will be adopted. I'd have to say this would almost be on the same level as the internet in terms of advancement. Truly changing every aspect of mankind (at least in developed areas). At that point no one had a clue of the potential or what we'd have today.
__________________
|