I think it was about the same time the automatic transmission became commonplace. Now you have automatic parking, backup cameras and hermetically sealed engine compartments so the car is more self sufficient than the driver. or steering wheel holder as the case may be
With a fifty mile commute (in each direction) that is often stop and go, the only thing an automatic transmission did was make me less angry.
LOL...excellent thesis. I guess totally self-driving cars will be the coup de grâce. Simpering blobs of protoplasm just going along for the ride.