Fully autonomous self driving vehicles do exist, the Vancouver skytrain has been running them since the 80's.

Fully autonomous self driving vehicles without tracks, grade separation, or platform screen doors running on the public roads mixing with cars, pedestrians, and velocipedestrians don't exist.

it was always just a year or two away, and that I was the irrational one.

It's the same with the Mars grift, "it's five years away, trust me!"