I sadly feel we'll never have cars that drive themselves.
The first time, ever, one crashes, regardless of the circumstances: "COMPUTER DRIVEN CAR DEATH! DO COMPUTER CARS MAKE YOU UNSAFE?" is shouted from the media rooftops, citizens get outraged, laws are passed, and we're all doomed to sit in traffic and continue to lose many lives to manual driving forever.
I think this can only be addressed by stating it clearly and upfront. "Automated cars will kill people. They will kill people every year. The only thing they have going for them is that every year they will kill 10 times less people than people driven cars. Life is dangerous, and it's your choice."
Car makers initially fought putting seatbelts in cars because it made them look dangerous. Now seat belts fracture thousands of ribs a year and are required by law. Both initial fear and actual danger were over come due to the massive demonstrable benefit of the technology.
This hasn't happened for other transportation methods so I don't see why cars should be different.
Early planes crashed more often than not and even today we get at least one huge crash per year, highly covered by media but no one suggests that we should ban planes even after they were used on 9/11 to destroy twin towers.
Busses crash, trains get derailed etc.
I think you're painting humanity with overly pessimistic brush as if reacting in the worst possible way is the only way can possibly react.
A vision for a safer, more efficient transportation is very compelling and something that many people and plenty of media will get behind and advocate.
I can see that too, but I don't think it's impossible. I don't think it will be an instant transition from driver to computer, it will be more gradual. More and more things in your car will become automated, starting with the simplest until we've reached the point that the driver is there simply to be transported.
For comparison, I think about other methods of transportation that have already been automated. Autopilot on planes, fully automated airport trams, etc. To be sure, these are dangerous systems if something goes wrong, but the infrequency of catastrophic occurrences let's us mostly trust in their safety.
Not really. Computer cars will very likely be manufactured mainly by the existing auto giants. And those have billions of ad dollars, so the media will be very careful.
In the USA this is true but European countries have already given the green light to a somewhat watered-down version of self-driving cars on public roads. The USA will eventually follow I would think.
The first time, ever, one crashes, regardless of the circumstances: "COMPUTER DRIVEN CAR DEATH! DO COMPUTER CARS MAKE YOU UNSAFE?" is shouted from the media rooftops, citizens get outraged, laws are passed, and we're all doomed to sit in traffic and continue to lose many lives to manual driving forever.