Self-driving vehicles enable smaller higher-frequency buses in less-dense areas.
And auto-taxis for the .50cent/mile cost of a personal car cut the Gordian knot of parking politics that often prevents new dense development in urban neighborhoods, since people don't need to own their own cars to take economical car trips occasionally.
And they shift the economics of vehicle ownership, so fewer people own cars, and thus fewer people identify as 'drivers' that are only concerned with roadway widening and parking construction, rather than public transit provision.
And, if nothing else, they'll make a big dent in the 30,000 people killed by automobiles every year.
Humans should not be operating cars or any other heavy machinery for that matter. Accidents caused by human error in cars are very prevalent, and self-driving cars at a macro-level would eliminate big risk factors for death and severe injury for a great number of people. Even if we don't get fully self-driving cars and just partially self-driving cars, it goes a long way towards reducing risk. So yes, REAL progress has and is being made.
I would also add, that over time hyper efficient public transit systems and large fleets of self driving cars doing transportation as a service converge into the same thing.
They are virtually indistinguishable from each other.
Combine that with the progress we are making with electric cars and we've got some REAL progress on multiple fronts that will make a serious difference to the lives of everyday people.
Self driving cars are the solution to a lot of things if your physical condition (age, other health issues) prevents you from driving in our car-centered culture.
As our population ages, this will be an ever greater problem. Loss of mobility has economic consequences beyond the specific people it happens to.
More efficient city transport - you have my vote. But there's a growing population cohort for which self-driving cars may be really helpful.
Transportation network companies have immediate origin and destination data for so many users that they will be able to create far more efficient "public" transportation systems than have ever existed. UberPool and Lyft Line are baby steps in that direction.
if you look at the list, it just shows how much more REAL progress is needed. Most on that list is fake progress.