Of the two choices I go with menace. If a car I buy one day comes with more auto control then I can't see myself ever switching the feature on and using it. I also only want manual, not an automatic.
When you are an experienced driver, you develop a kind of 6th sense to read the road, situation and other drivers around you. Very subtle little signals that mean you can predict what is likely to play out or what danger, safety issue or driver error might occur, then adapt to the situation in advance like leaving more space or to be prepared and ready.
For example you might notice a car just a little in front of you in the lane to your side, you know from experience of the spot, that drivers often choose the wrong lane here and you can see inside the car the driver is moving in their seat in such a way that experience tells you they are likely to cut you up in the next few seconds. If not at the lights then on the roundabout, so you are prepared for it happening or change your positioning in expectation. More often than not you read it correctly and that's exactly what plays out. Driverless cars will never be able to see and read such situations or have the local knowledge and experience to remove the danger before it even happens like we can.
Another example is the unwritten rules and customs of the road. You can't code for these as they go against the "correct" way something should be dealt with. For example flashing someone out at a junction where you know from experience locally, that's the only way they are going to be able to get out or they are stuck there forever, and it is the expected custom locally that is what you are expected to do at that spot.
Roads in the UK are generally in a bad state with worn away road markings, signs covered up with bushes and trees, pot holes and partially collapsed drain cover to avoid. The money will never be there for the infrastructure to be maintained to the standard needed for these to work well and be trusted.
Large amounts of country lanes with tractors coming round blind corners, with the road not big enough for two vehicles, passing points being the entrances to farm fields. Don't see how they would ever be able to handle that either. How far back was the last passing point I need to reverse to? Will the car even drive through that muddy boggy entrance or can the tractor move? O no! Now there is a car with a caravan on tow behind me as well! Good luck coding for that!
So yeah menace, they will never work properly and always need someone sitting there alert ready to spot it's errors or take over when it just gives up completely. At which point you may as well just drive yourself anyway and remove the risk!
