I'm not convinced that 'autonomous' driving will ever be better than non-distracted/drunk drivers. Suppose this is a task that, short of overhauling all our road infrastructure, ultimately requires GAI? I think we generally have way too much confidence that cars will ever drive better than people, at least on the current road system. I am not saying that they definitely won't, only that I'm not sure we should take the attitude that anything that gets in the way of autonomous driving is sacrificing human lives. We don't know that.
I also worry that mixing autonomous systems with people will result in more accidents, both in the case of drivers nodding off instead of supervising the car, and in the case of other drivers being surprised by the autonomous car's behavior. On top of this, it would not be surprising if autonomous car accidents were more psychologically devastating - they would likely commit different categories of error than human drivers.
Conversely, if the tech industry wanted to save lives on the road, easily the most impactful thing they could do is shut off any phone screen moving faster than five miles an hour. This would inconvenience passengers, but we did after all survive for many years without phones in the car.