I agree with you. It's an interesting situation: a cultural problem that one side argues can be solved via a technical solution. The problem is that some people want a more just housing policy and some other people want a housing policy that only favors them. But the latter don't want to admit to themselves that this is their position, so they misdirect with technological optimism.

It's tempting to answer in kind: "don't worry about traffic! Let's just build more housing, and self-driving cars will reduce traffic anyway."