Reading a bunch of stuff from self-driving car boosters (we all have boring hobbies), I gather people sorta get the problem but usually don't come right out and say it:
To the extent that self-driving cars work (you know my position about them essentially not working, but..), they probably won't work everywhere, anytime, under any conditions, meaning that they won't be very useful as the "family car." Thus, the focus on self-driving taxis, which on one hand can be reasonably required only to function in relatively limited areas, but on the other hand having to function as a taxi creates a whole set of new complicated problems which are also really hard to solve.
