I wouldn't say "fascinating" so much as "irritating", as this is more about journalists wanting to get a juicy story where there isn't one, rather than a lesson on human nature.

Statistically, autopilot is orders of magnitude safer than humans.

If there's a story here, it's about how the US doesn't require underrun protection on trucks, thus making them death traps, but that wouldn't be anywhere near as good for circulation as a "rise of the machines, they want to kill you" story.