You are correct; the public won’t accept the technology until it’s at least as safe statistically as air travel (and even then, there’ll be pushback in response

You are correct; the public won’t accept the technology until it’s at least as safe statistically as air travel (and even then, there’ll be pushback in response to specific inevitable tragedies). However, I think the profit incentives of the trucking industry will manage to carve out some regulatory exceptions; something like “freight trucks can self-drive between 11a and 5a on these specific Nebraska highways, with warning signs on both roads and vehicles”. This sort of lobbying will be the thin end of the wedge for both iterating the tech, and normalizing its acceptance.