Automatic transmissions are better (shift speed, economy etc.) than many humans with a manual transmission. And are selected on the majority of vehicles partly for that reason and also because a large class of people don't want to be bothered operating the transmission.
That's not true at all in the UK, where most cars still have a manual transmission. I don't know whether it's purely a cultrual thing, or if the roads here lend themselves better to manual.
I don't think the media help with self-driving cars: every single accident will make headline news. It's similer with the COVID-19 vaccines, which are safer than most over the counter painkillers, yet every single death, or adverse effect is shouted about by the media.
Yes driver assist will gradually become more compehensive and common, but I doubt fully self-driving will ever take of, due to the liability reasons mentioned above. Self driving cars will be more submissive and less agressive than human drivers, which will cause other road users to take the piss. If a cyclist knows the self-driving car will stop, if they pull out infront of them, without beeping the horn and swearing at them, they'll be more likely to do it. I can imagine a situation with a fully self-driving car stopped for ages, whist pedestrians and cyclists keep crossing the road in front of it, because they know it'll wait for them.
What about situations when you need to just go, because you're being threatened by another road user? A few years ago, I was riding my motorcycle, along a road full of parked cars. I was going slow, around 10mph because it wasn't safe to go any faster. A group of youths decided to line up across the road, blocking my path. I felt threatened, so sped up a little and reved the engine, to show I wasn't going to stop. When they realised I would run them down, they moved and let me pass. There was no way I would have stopped. They might have had knives, stabbed me and stolen my bike.