There have been people doing hand free driving now for quite some time, in vehicles that have no automatic hand free driving equipment.
I’ve watched people using both hands to text while driving. It’s common to see a woman looking at that little vanity mirror on the sun visor, playing with her hair with one hand and on the phone with the other.
Back to the Ford fatalities. I suspect the biggest reason to use this Blue Cruise feature is to be perpetually on some device. I do not have sympathy for the deceased. Being on some device or not, the Darwin rule of survival of the fittest ruled again.
Self driving cars don’t have to be perfect to be accepted. They just need to drive better than the average human.
Once that happens the government will mandate them. Even if they shouldn’t.