They're saying they won't be ready for the general population until 2020-2030. The issue is even if the car is safe, other drivers aren't.
Any idea about the cost (I mean capital cost + annual maintenance) ? If the system costs much more per year than the cost of hiring a human driver, then I don't think that too many people might be interested in it. Also, any attempt like this one is likely to attract protests from the drivers union.
![Grin](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
And yes.. right now it might be too early to ask about the operating expenses.