This is basically a fear of technological change survey. Of course it skews toward the "as is" because this technological change is still out there enough that hardly anyone has experienced it. Responders are favoring the "what-they-know" option over the unknown, almost sci-fi option. This is the horse & buggy world facing the impending takeover of horseless carriages in another form.
I know a few people who have a fear of escalators and moving sidewalks. I know plenty of people with fear of flying. There's people on this site with fear of wireless (radiation). And on and on. The escalator people can make similar arguments for clinging to good old stairs... including spinning rationalizations such as better exercise, etc. The flying people can make arguments for travel by car, train & boat... including rationalizations based upon the occasional plane crash (ignoring how many, MANY more get to their destinations every day). The radiation people can make arguments for wired and/or not using cell phones or wifi at all... including rationalizations that wired does indeed deliver better quality and/or faster internet connections.
In short: it's what we do. We're afraid of technological change that is likely to affect us as individuals until it arrives and we get to experience it ourselves... or our circle of contacts is experiencing it and gushing about it. Sooner or later we embrace it and never look back. In my lifetime, there was a time when no one had a personal computer, no one had a laptop, no one had a cell phone, almost no one had access to the internet, no one had a HDTV, cruise control, microwave ovens, and on and on. Now having a microwave oven or a cell phone is normal... even ubiquitous, as in "how did anyone get by without one?". This will be no different.
Those arguing for the importance of controlling the car themselves should be making the same argument of being at the wheel of the bus or the stick of the plane, etc. too. In those modes of transportation, we- as passenger- are pretty much completely out of control of the "system" in play getting us from here to there. Sure there is a HUMAN in those systems today but that doesn't give you any more control of whether the bus or plane is going to get you there safely or be crashed. You just take your seat, engage in other activities (or even sleep) and some system completely beyond your control gets you to where you are trying to go. Is this really so different?
And it doesn't matter how we feel about the concept- it's coming whether we like it or not. Eliminating labor so that a computer does the driving will be cheaper than paying that labor a salary. Soon it will be over for the cabbies and probably bus drivers. It's probably over for the train conductors. It shouldn't be too long beyond that that airplane auto-pilots take over the whole job too. It is inevitable. Fear it. Loathe it. Worry about it. Etc. But it will be much cheaper so it will keep on coming.
Those of us most afraid of it might resist it... but sooner or later we will be exposed to it. The person afraid of flying eventually needs to fly to urgently get to somewhere in time. The person afraid of cell phone radiation eventually needs to use a cell phone for some reason. The persons afraid of escalators or moving sidewalks eventually are pressed to use one. Etc. They face their fear. They DON'T die a fiery death and, before you know it, they are using their own cell phone on a moving sidewalk to check their (flight) gate or baggage carousel number.
Step forward 10 or 20 years and run this same survey again. Responses will certainly significantly vary, implying a very different view of this new technology. Step forward 15-30 years and the same people showing fear of this change might be spinning how people ever got by wasting so much time on the mundane task of actually driving a car. How did people ever get by having to spend an hour cooking meals before the microwave oven? How did people ever get by having to use only wired phones? Without the internet? Etc.
Personally? Given the choice of being freed up from having to focus on driving a vehicle much as I am when flying, I'm extraordinarily enthusiastic about the concept. I'd much rather fill driving time with more interesting or productive activities (or even sleep).