The first robot rides will operate at low speeds, moving cautiously enough even in dense traffic that urban planners may add specifically defined pickup areas and slow lanes for automated vehicles. That will help prevent rear-enders and other similar crashes that result from impatient, inattentive humans. There will also probably be human minders, either on board or monitoring remotely, poised to take control if artificial intelligence needs to be replaced with the biological variety.
just hand over even more space!
Your trip from an office in Manhattan to a restaurant downtown would start once you meet your robo-taxi at a designated pickup area for autonomous vehicles. Separate pickup and drop-off areas will make it simpler and safer for the robot to find its fare without the clutter of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
The clutter of those damn pedestrians and legacy vehicles. Gotta get rid of them.