I think we’re a long way from cars that you can’t take control of yourself.
We’re even further from driverless cars that don’t allow you to change your mind about where you’re going. I don’t see the problem here.
Does that mean we should enjoy the freedom of being able to drive wherever we want to now before we are forced to stick to developed roads and mass transit systems?
I think it means, don’t worry about it. Nobody is going to take away your right to go off-roading. 
Right–I think you will be able to drive your own car for many years to come. There may be zones where you can’t, though. Perhaps there will be super-high-speed highways where you’ll have to be driverless (anybody see the movie of I, Robot?). And I suppose there might be some people who will only be allowed to “operate” cars in driverless mode for various reasons.
I’m definitely not a tech guy, but I wonder about the software with driverless cars. When you purchase the car do you get lifetime updates of operating software? Will you have to constantly upgrade hardware to work with updated software? Are updates installed via wifi, or do you have to go to some dealership (monthly/bimonthly/immediately) and have your car hooked up to computer? What happens if you keep car a long time and company decides to no longer support your operating software? Do you have to purchase supplemental security software and updates to prevent hacking? I could go on wondering but how does anyone think software/hardware issues could play out with driverless cars.
I will be happy to have a driverless car to take me home in a foggy area after a Christmas party.
Ideally I would love to have a flying car. I think a car flying in the air is safer than a car running on the road.
Modern cars are loaded with software already. It’s not like driverless cars would be the only cars with software.
In the future, I could see car makers offering two choices - vehicles that are only one mode - self driving, and vehicles with both modes - self driving and human driving, with a premium price on the latter for the flexibility and options. I would also imagine quite a few vintage cars around. Maybe we should warehouse some gas guzzling, off-roading vehicles as an investment.
“What happens if you keep car a long time and company decides to no longer support your operating software? Do you have to purchase supplemental security software and updates to prevent hacking? I could go on wondering but how does anyone think software/hardware issues could play out with driverless cars.”
Job creation! 
^ Trade in to upgrade. Or wait for a new cash for clunker program.
I think you’re talking about the main roads (highways, freeways, etc), I was talking about off of the main roads… like dirt roads. I have no problem with restrictions for main roads… I just don’t want to be forced to stay only on main roads. That’s a privilege that should never go away, IMO.
@doschicos I guess your right in several possible ways: increases in car manufacturing, tech job creation, or increased need for ER or mortuary workers to deal with the carnage of people using cars with unsupported software.
^ The manufacturer can disable the car after a number of years. No need to worry about cars with outdated software.
Or how about job creation for after market software, etc. Such things exist now for parts on conventional cars so I can’t see it being different for the cars of the future.
That is not just a rural thing. City and suburb drivers may see something interesting and stop there as well.
A self-driving car could easily have a way to tell it to “stop here” or “turn right here”.
I would bet that dense urban centers like London and NYC are just waiting for the day they can mandate automated cars with no manual intervention in city centers, in order to alleviate terrorists running their cars into people. That really seems like the only way to eliminate that particular type of terrorist attack.
Having manual control on dirt roads though, especially dirt roads that are in poor condition and easy to get stuck on would be nice though. I don’t want to be 10 miles back on some remote road, get stuck, and not be able to get unstuck because the computer wouldn’t let me intervene. For example, the computer could easily pick a bad path through a deep mud puddle, whereas I would steer away from it. I doubt the software would be advanced enough for driverless off-roading. 
Plus, a huge part of off roading is just the fun of driving off road.
Of course, the rest of the vehicle must be sufficiently off-road capable. It is rather likely that vehicles capable of going into severe off-road conditions will retain human controls.
The computer would probably do all it can to avoid driving through water that it cannot see the bottom of, so the situation where human control would help is probably the opposite of what you suggest. I.e. it refuses to drive through the water because it may be too deep, and there is no other way around it, but a human driver could get out and scout the water to find it shallow enough and then drive through it.