Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something like 30,000 Americans alone are killed every year in car accidents. I think the primary idea is to reduce the constant death on the road by making machines that are safer at driving than humans. The toll that car accidents have on society is honestly unconscionable.
That is a good point. A secondary benefit, is a self driving car can literally give most workers that commute about an hour per day of their lives back. For some people it will be two to three hours.
How is being stuck in a small box for an hour "getting that hour back"? Most people don't want to read a book during their commute, they want to have less commute, so they can do actual things they want, like play with their kids or cook dinner or enjoy a movie in the comfort of their own home.
"Fixing" commutes by making everyone sit alone in their car while it does the driving part as if that's the problem with an hour long commute, is the single dumbest way to make cities better.