Want to reduce road deaths? Invest in public transportation.

I had to look up a name for this. "Utopian Fallacy."

You don't have to get rid of genuine progress just because your utopian vision has something better. The USA is on the path to autonomous vehicles. They are not on the path to public transportation excellence.

Yup. Even if "safer per mile", more cars and more miles driven will probably outweigh the benefits. And still be hazardous to cyclists and pedestrians, still make us design stupid cities (built for cars, not people), etc.

Like how electric cars were for saving the car companies, not the planet, autonomous will be the same.