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Originally Posted by 10023
Of course not.
They will however be cheaper and probably produce a new ownership model. If it doesn't need to sit at home, then you don't need to own it. You can pay a monthly subscription to have a car on demand. Something like Uber, minus the driver, but you get to pick exactly which model of car you want.
The benefit to traffic will have more to do with the fact that, apparently, a significant portion of urban vehicle miles travelled are spent looking for parking. Self-driving cars would know exactly where available spaces are (if they even need one, and aren't just enroute to pick up their next passenger).
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The model already exists in the form of ZipCar, which exists in larger American cities and a few European ones (London and Paris, at the least). I've used a ZipCar in Paris to drive up to Azincourt. It's not self-driving, but the only difference in the model is that I have to go get it and drive it myself. The pricing model would be quite similar if it were self-driving. With ZipCar, you can either pay a small annual fee and no monthly fee plus a per-hour rate, or you can sign up for a guaranteed monthly usage rate and then a lower per-hour rate the more you guarantee to use it. I think in some markets they've even experimented with an unlimited plan.