This isn't a lowest common denominator issue, but rather addressing the swiss cheese model of driving safety. Autopilot catches problems that I, as a driver, might miss. At the same time, I catch problems that Autopilot might miss. The best example is emergency braking with this or any emergency braking system is truly superhuman. On the other hand, anticipating drivers that are about to veer into my lane is something I'll see before the car will.
Sure, if a great driver is not paying attention, then the safety of the car is completely left to the computer, but there's no evidence that this is done in large numbers. You can point me to some counterexamples on YouTube or that crash in Mountain View, but there's no evidence that this is done at scale.
> Yeah, who cares if it can kill you at any moment with some bizarro sudden move, since it's "so close to perfection on freeways".
I never said anything about almost killing me, and a blip of the brake pedal would only kill you in the event that someone is tailgating to an absurd degree, which is illegal and reckless by itself.
> Thankfully, early adopters will help improve ... the human evolutionary pool.
This is an unfounded statement. The death rate while using autopilot is still significantly lower than when not using it.
