I’ve tried to find the original source of that claim and come up missing. All of the online articles either don’t reference a source or they eventually link to an out of print book.[1]

At this point I’m pretty sure it’s not true. If past public sentiment was so against automatic elevators, there would be at least one newspaper clipping or digitized article.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585122

Right, it's eerily similar. People say this about automated railways too. And as with the elevator on your hundredth trip you are not thinking "Oh no, this is automated, it might kill me", because of course it's automated, you're thinking about whether Jim meant to complement you or it was intended as an insult last night, and did you bolt the back door?

It's pretty rare though. It's far more likely that the taxi driver will be killed by a passenger.