You're misunderstanding him at best and projecting at worst. He's saying that he no longer has to worry about those things the same way cruise control lets you

You're misunderstanding him at best and projecting at worst. He's saying that he no longer has to worry about those things the same way cruise control lets you not worry about the speedometer needle and dedicate more of your attention budget outside the car. Of course you can be an idiot and spend it on your cell phone but that's not really a failure mode specific to any given vehicle technology.