+1 on having a backup plan or an alternative. And this applies not just to cars but to all aspect of life. It's self evident.

And to Catrin, I wish you well on your upcoming surgeries. Have you considered ways of managing surgery pain so that you don't have to be totally dependent on pills? Self-hypnosis and meditation will help you with pain management. google search on "training your body to ignore pain" I've shattered both of my clavicles (collar bone) and each time, I only took the pain pill at the hospital. Meditation/self hypnosis made it tolerable without any pills.

As for autonomous cars...
  1. Looks like I will be ordering Tesla model 3. Model S is way too big and don't care for model X, besides its too expensive.
  2. total number of EV sold in 2016 in California alone? was around 15,000 vehicles. Tesla is scheduled to deliver over 500,000 by end of 2018 just for model 3. And it will have level 2 autonomous driving and maybe level 3.
  3. Autonomous cars, its coming sooner than you might think. Much of the autonomous ability comes from AI (artificial intelligence). Tesla model S is sporting a supercomputer from NVIDIA. It's said to be equivalent to 150 macbooks. Tesla thinks it has enough computing power to do level 5 while Nvidia thinks its only good to level 4 autonomous driving and Nvidia thinks it needs two of these to do level 5 autonomous driving. Do we still need a driver license at that point? I think I'll just enjoy the ride from the back seat and enjoy the finer things in life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_pGT8Q_tjk
  4. gasoline/diesel engine cars will be phasing out over next twenty years. New battery technology such as solid state glass battery patented by Prof Goodenough (this is real) who also happens to be father of Lithium Ion battery. The new battery will be 1/5 to 1/10 the size of Lithium Ion battery. If it makes it to mass market, then model S can have a range of 1250 miles per charge to over 2000 miles per charge. Still want to drive gas/diesel powered car?
  5. Tesla, Nikola, Mercedes are testing out fully autonomous EV semi-truck NOW!! Okay Nikola is hydrogen-electric hybrid with 1000+ mile range.
  6. If you think autonomous driving is less capable than a human being, then you might want to know that US Airforce tested out a AI piloted fighter plane in simulated dog fight. It won every engagement against an aerial dog fight instructor-pilot. It even managed to beat human flying in less capable jet. yes this is in past tense. I think managing a car is far easier... me thinketh.