Self-driving cars use cameras and sensors to drive without input from a person in the car. They are able to use their programming to drive safely, doing everything a driver would do. They are able to follow all the road rules and transport passengers safely to their destinations. But, this is not a widespread reality yet. Although self-driving cars may be a common sight in the future, there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out before self-driving cars can be safe enough for common use. 

I think that eventually self-driving cars will be a common sight, but there are some large downsides that will prevent them from ever fully replacing human-driven cars. First of all, there would be many costs associated with ingraining self-driving cars into our society. There will be high costs associated with all aspects of self-driving cars, from maintenance and development to production. Next, if all cars are replaced with self-driving ones, many jobs would be lost, from taxi drivers and food deliveries to semi truck drivers, there are tons of people that have a job that relies on driving. Also, if any car is fully self-driving, there is a risk of the technology breaking, or not working. Without a failsafe, such as a driver being able to take over controls, any technology malfunction could be disastrous. Finally, not everyone would want to give up being able to drive. Driving is something so ingrained within our society that it would be near impossible to make everyone stop driving, so I think it is unlikely that all cars will be self-driving in our lifetime. 

However, there are a few major advantages that self-driving cars could have. First of all, they could save time and avoid traffic by following the optimal distance behind the car in front of them and finding the optimal route to a destination. They could also be much safer than manually driven cars, as the programming would make them always follow the road rules and always make the right decision. This added safety would also improve congestion, as less crashes means less traffic, as there would be no interruptions or reroutes due to an accident. 

In conclusion, I think that self-driving cars are a great concept, but they are not our sole future. There are many reasons to use our time and energy to pursue this new technology, but I think it will never take over fully from manual cars. I think there are too many physical and psychological obstacles for self-driving cars to ever achieve what we dream of, but through them we can improve our technology and safety, and achieve new things.