Robocars - Autonomous Drive, Self-driving, Driver-less cars

My basic point (big picture here) is that I don't see Autonomous PERSONAL transport as true progress, or even necessary.
What's so challenging about your current 'lifestyle' that you need to be ferried around like SirAlanSugar?

I can definitely see a use for Autonomous vehicles in an Industrial context, of course, but I don't believe in creating nannying solutions to problems that can be solved by better education.
I also have a little trouble seeing how Autonomous cars would successfully share the roads with human-piloted conventional cars (from both political and practical points-of-view).

Basically, I'm one of those annoying retrogrouch thirty-somethings that thinks smaller, lighter cars with loud engines, large bright window apertures, stick-thin pillars and an engaging driving feel are safer than lumbering, silenced, blacked-out leviathans covered in cameras.
Whenever the idea of removing human interaction from a basically simple activity (almost always based on an authority's perception of 'risk') rears its head, it makes me sad.

Think ahead to 20-30 years' time. That Autonomous car you're sitting in, what exactly is it affording you the time to do? Look out at all the other hideous, boring autonomous cars whizzing by? More time to surf the Londinium Ceramic Disc and Belt Drive Forum? Talk about all the things you don't have to do any more to all the other people that don't do anything either? Rave about how McLaren make a slightly lighter battery than Ferrari and oh isn't it surprising how a lighter battery can help an Autonomous race car lap a circuit slightly more quickly than a car equipped with a slightly heavier battery?

Driving remains an activity to me. Sometimes it doubles up as a chore, sometimes it's also a sport. Sometimes it's just an escape.
Cars remain pieces of design to me. Mondeos are dull things, white goods really, but right now in the UK you can still buy a working '80s Porsche, Mercedes, BMW or nice old Alfa for under a thousand quid. Cars that make me smile whenever I see them still in operation on the road. The rise of Hybrid Technology, Autonomy and other forms of 'progress' will likely conspire to see these cars legislated off the road in quite a short time frame. Sad times.

And, yes, I still pull out a map if I need to go somewhere. I don't have a Sat-Nav or working GPS on my phone.
In the door-pocket of my car you will find a dog-eared copy of this.

By relying on this (and the plethora of signage clearly visible out the front window, not to mention the position of the sun in the sky) for the past ~20 months, I've been told quite a few times that I now know central LA better than many Sat-Nav-enslaved folk who were actually born here.

I'd prefer to be smarter than my car.

Whoa, dude, my apologies. Completely missed this.
Look, since I was around 5, the only thing I love is cars cars cars. I still look at shit like this and squeal: UNNNGH

Does that clarify how I feel about the automobile for you?
What I'm arguing for is the prevalence of technology. There are FAR too many of us for cars to be sensible anymore. You live in LA right? The US is a perfect example. Their transportation infrastructure revolves around the modern car. It's neither efficient, not does it have a stable shelf life. How many more millions do you think LA highways can support before turning into soup?

It's not a case of education, it's case of being logical. You and I to some degree, see driving as more than a means to an end. Most people? It's just that! The needs of the masses outweigh those of a few. The concept of the "personal car" stops being that. For the masses, yes, they really would rather sit there reading Metro 2033.

Ultimately, you can't really halt the progress of technology. Robot cars never sleep, never tire, and have 50 eyes are opposed to two. The public road exists primarily to facilitate car travel. Simple as. Entertainment, getaway, Art. That, alas, comes secondary to the car being a transportation mechanism.

Look, I'm near enough the same as you. I was going to do a degree in Transport Design. I still sketch cars, I still lust after an Alfa T33 Stradale, but my opinion still remains irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, which is, you can't really stop technological advance. A scary, yet exciting concept.

The way I see it though, the car came out, people still race horses though.
I like to see that as a silver lining. I can't wait to start racing this generation M5 in a decades time!