That's my main issue with the parent posts and the self-driving sentiments they're expressing - the person using it was grossly negligent and ignored all the warnings presented. You accept that the technology is in beta and that you accept the risks of that. The person ignoring those warnings is, more than likely, much less safer of driver than Autopilot ever could be.
I just really don't see how this could be pinned as Tesla's fault. We're treading very closely to territory where we absolve people of personal responsibility simply because we have technology that we can blame, even if it's irrational or misdirected blame.
For me, I prefer life over a false sense of control.
If the technology were better than humans I'd agree.
I have seen a drunk driver do exactly that.
Someone who falls asleep might also do that.
[edit] Come to think of it, I have almost caused an accident a decade ago. I was momentarily distracted as I turned to talk to my passenger. I was able to brake in time, as a car in front of me had suddenly stopped. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of maybe one second to avoid running into the other car. Me-a-decade ago might been in a similar accident.
Human car accidents are not news because roughly 100 Americans die in car accidents every day, out of ~15300 car accidents per day.
I can also avoid being in either of those situations.
If autopilot is comparable ot an exhausted or drunk driver why do I want to use it?
But separate cases are not really interesting when comparing accident rates. Think of a more extreme made up scenario:
You can either drive yourself and be part of the "1.25 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles" statistic (US), or use an automated car which causes 0.25 deaths - but it spontaneously explodes in that case. No other car would just explode randomly while you're driving it. (It's clearly worse in that way)
Do you want to drive yourself, or take the automated one?
That is, if the risks of one edge case goes up while the car performs far better in the vast majority of situations, is the car worse than a human?
It happens all the time, dude. Most famously with Jayne Mansfield, but commonly when people are paying attention to their damned phones, or trying to sort out a fight among the kids, or just distracted by their marriage, or work problems, or...
I used to know a woman who drove right into a city bus that was stopped at a bus stop, lights flashing and everything. Fortunately no one was injured in that accident.
Is it realistic to worry about a car that can't get that right, but is simultaneously safer than a human driver overall?
Tesla seems to be allowing only two options - one with no driving assistance, and one where they can call it autonomous.
That said, I'm casually in the market for a Tesla (ideally pre-owned) and one of the features I'd require is the latest auto-pilot hardware. I'd definitely make use of it right away too -- but I'd do so with the understanding that it is far from infallible, and that I still need to keep substantially all of my attention trained to the road just as I would in any other non-autopilot vehicle.