Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But I want that option, and I don't want that option cut just because that makes life a little sweeter for (future) Big Auto. Do I want to heat my house with wood? Do I want to cook my own food? Do I want to pump my own gas? Do I want to paint my own house?
The self-driving car will still take you anywhere you want to go.
Unless / until:
- I slowly roll to a stop, or don't slow to a stop at all, because a bug or virus in the software in the car or in "the intelligent road" says so.
- Somebody figures out how much fun it is to broadcast fake or noise laser / lidar / radar / whatever signals to every car on Highway X for five minutes, either causing a crash in front of me, or me being in that crash.
- Some state or local or federal computer decides that I am the same Mr. Jiggy Boy who didn't pay his taxes or child support / is now on the Terrorist Watchlist / has violated parole / died yesterday / etc. (NB: One of these mistakes has happened to me.)
- Same but for my car: it's reported as the getaway car in a bank robbery / is overdue for maintenance / is owned by an Amber Alert guy / etc.
You get the idea.
There was a science fiction story I read years ago, probably something from Robert Heinlein, that featured driverless taxis (except these taxis could fly). Once inside the taxi, the government could easily lock the doors and send the taxi directly to the police station instead of to the intended destination and in fact, that’s exactly what happened to one of the protagonists in the novel. He thought he was going to have dinner with his girlfriend but it did not quite work out that way for him. Instead, he was taken into custody.