Automation will indeed do some harm to a certain group of people. The question is who should be responsible for bailing those people out (if at all). Is it society (aka, the govt), or the companies reaping the benefits of said automation?
Of course, economically, taxi drivers and others will lose while programmers/shareholders will win. The point is that for the 99% (or whatever) of us that aren't in either category, self driving cars will be a massive improvement to our lives. Especially to the 10s of thousands each year that won't die.
Automation will indeed do some harm to a certain group of people. The question is who should be responsible for bailing those people out (if at all). Is it society (aka, the govt), or the companies reaping the benefits of said automation?