grumpy old men
I'm kind of amazed by both the tone of the article and pretty much all of the responses. They're not talking about a world in which one or two of these cars weave their way around all of your ego-boxes. They're positing a traffic system in which all vehicles are automated like this - a real paradigm shift. The benefits of such an arrangement are many. Everyone who, for some reason, be it age, health, physical impairment, beer impairment, whatever, currently cannot operate a vehicle, will gain autonomy. With a smart routing system we could spread load around and make the most efficient use of the road network; efficient routing would mean we could travel at a lower average speed than we currently drive at, so such an arrangement would be safe(r) for pedestrians. Emergency vehicles could be given priority. Etc.
The tone of this article - a knowing weariness - is not uncommon for The Register, but in this case not overly smart.