Rationale: Cost plus Safety
While initially there will be a back-up driver, eventually this will be "Level 4" autonomy, meaning that there will be no driver. Therefore, ultimately there will be a cost savings.
On top of that, once the technology is beyond concept stage, it will likely be much safer to drive in an autonomous car than a human-driven one. The car's computers will be able to react within milliseconds to an emergency event rather than the significantly slower response time of a human. They will know at all times what the conditions around them are so they know whether the proper evasive response is to swerve around an incident or apply emergency braking. Its computers will obey all traffic laws, never feel drowsy from a full day of working or a hard night of partying the previous night, will never be impacted by alcohol or drugs and won't be distracted by an attractive girl walking on the sidewalk.
That being said, this may never work in a large city like NYC since the computers will be too polite to barge into traffic and hence will take forever to get anywhere.
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