> As for safety, it would be much better to move as much of private traffic as possible to public transport.
Not much better, probably slightly better than autonomous cars because the number of vehicles is smaller. But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin. Autonomous cars give you the best of both worlds. You can decide who you spend your time with or hear music as loud as you want, but are also free to do other things than driving. It's cleaner (or at least your own dirt), and you don't have to carry anything around, as you can store your stuff in the car.
If you think this through, with all the comfort people usually want, you end up with individual autonomous cars. When ignoring external constraints (energy use, traffic, parking space) it’s the optimal form of transport.
Practically nobody would say something like “I’d like to share a cabin with strangers” or “I prefer to walk to a bus stop and wait there for the next vehicle” or “I like to carry my stuff around instead of just leaving it in the vehicle”.
Not much better, probably slightly better than autonomous cars because the number of vehicles is smaller. But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin. Autonomous cars give you the best of both worlds. You can decide who you spend your time with or hear music as loud as you want, but are also free to do other things than driving. It's cleaner (or at least your own dirt), and you don't have to carry anything around, as you can store your stuff in the car.