A big part of the actual value of "driverless" to :porky-happy: is using it as an extension of the privatized surveillance state. I've even had bazingas tell me directly that they want their future magic car to be "rented out" when they aren't using it so it's constantly making revenue for them as some wasteful version of mass transit with extra steps. They seem to want centralization through corporations and seem to want to be monitored and directed through the same but want that "freedom" illusion all the while because mass transit that does better for cheaper with a lot less waste involves being around the poors, and they can't have that.
Is that really all it is? Some techbro hangup about seeing poor people?
You don't even need to be a communist or an environmentalist to understand that bringing more shit from outside earth with no clear plan to take out shit out of earth will just bury the crust in shit. You just need to understand basic mass and energy balances, but apparently the 1st law of thermodynamics isn't STEM(TM) enough.
I've even had people here on Hexbear tell me that being opposed to asteroid mining treats in the current sociopolitical and economic systems is some sort of quaint Luddite primitivist stance and not opposition to that much more pollution and waste dumped everywhere under capitalist systems.