Yeah there can be other bugs in my car, or other people that do something stupid, but I feel like I am more in control. It is unlikely I die from my engine blowing a gasket or my ECU completely dying. It might be a slight danger to those around me while I coast to the shoulder. But at least it's not going 60 mph into the shoulder...
You're severely underestimating danger of engineering mistakes in hardware.
Faulty Takata airbags have killed at least 20 in the US and injured over 100 since 2013. Then there was the Ford-Firestone fiasco that killed hundreds and injured thousands. The Ford Pinto ended up being a death trap. I also recall there several lawsuits around faulty guardrails that have killed. That's just off the top of my head.
The idea "software bugs kill, hardware bugs don't" is just plain wrong. I also can't even fathom an understanding of why it's "better" to be killed by someone whose overdosing on heroin behind the wheel than being killed by an engineering error. Especially given the hypothetical case that was proposed when engineering errors are less common.
I think the idea was "why add another layer of things that might kill me on top of existing ones?" In this regard, SDVs deliver the exact opposite of their marketing pitch.
