Most self-driving cars won't be stored in our garages, because we won't own them. That's one of their big advantages.

I might want to back it up just tight at the Ikea dock to pick something up. Don't let "garage" get in the way of thinking of why you might need to take over manual steering. As amply exemplified above, single lane situation with two way traffic.

Ikea already delivers. It's difficult to imagine that they'll deliver less when they won't have to hire drivers to do so. The robo-delivery-van won't only lack a steering wheel, it will lack a seat. I envision doors on the front, and sliding dividers that push the next delivery forward when the van backs out of the driveway of the preceding delivery.

These will not be cars as we have known them. Most people today don't like cars as we have known them, nor the cruft that has built around that. A vocal minority here on HN really likes cars, exactly as they are, and they don't want to hear about these changes. That's OK, people who want to waste money on old-timey cars will be able to do so, for at least a few decades.

If not have a steering wheel blows your mind, hold on: which direction do you think the front seats will face, in the typical robocar?

[EDIT] I'm dreaming of a time when few people buy cars, so we'll no longer be plagued with car commercials.

One positive thing of emasculating ourselves from cars will be the dear of the car chase trope in French, Chinese, American, Australian, Indian and Nigerian cinema.

Haha I love the verb choice!

I'd expect chase scenes to endure, and they'll probably include robocars, but also hacks to get around/take advantage of their inherent chase limitations. E.g.: someone on a bicycle could intentionally ride through a crowd of pedestrians knowing that robocars won't just blast through to follow. Or the police could shut down a robocar remotely, but the fugitive could figure out how to escape the locked car. Etc.

That could be solved easily (and probably more accurately) by just having a few nudge buttons or some other UI. Use them for those "Move left a few more inches" or "Back up just a little more" situations. These cars should be able to do fine maneuvering/adjustments much better than a lot of people can.

I would buy one if I could. There's something to be said about having instant access to a car vs. having to wait for one to arrive.

I would be surprised if there is no low-speed manual maneuverability with a joystick or somesuch.