True, the first order effects can be worse in some ways. Horses can easily go off road and step over obstructions and cars cannot.

The big deal is the second order effects. Cars can driver 50 MPH so we build highways and now we can have suburbs.

For autonomy it means that logistics systems can be centrally planned and programmed like never before with no need to factor in the human costs or restraints around sleeping, stopping for food, etc. Then the third order effects of that are very hard to predict