What happens when I'm stuck in a ditch or sand or in a rut and need delicate manoeuvering? Maybe I'm out in a field in the middle of nowhere. No roads, just open field with seasonal hazards.
I still want a way to guide the vehicle manually without having to call someone with a winch.
People already keep AAA memberships in their wallets instead of a spare tire, tire wrench, jack, jumper cables, and starter one-shot battery in their trunk.
That is a YMMV statement.
I live in Canada, and after a major snowfall, I've seen plenty people get stuck --while-- driving on residential streets that hadn't been plowed yet. Starting from a stop and going up hills are often a problem in that situation too.
It's common to meet a car, both pause while the drivers try to figure out who has a better chance of reversing 500 wiggly metres to a passing place. If you meet an old lady, man, just stick it in reverse and drive as far as you need, waiting for her to even find reverse is pointless.
I can't see any reason why self driving cars couldn't manage single track with passing places better than people - especially if they knew where the passing places are and could communicate with other cars.
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.
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.