I hope you are right, I think self driving cars are the biggest threat to the hobby. If they mandate that, it won't matter if it is battery or gas powered, the hobby will be dead.
Really feels (to me) like EV and self driving go hand in hand. Maybe because of Tesla pushing it. Don't know, just seems like the real push is self driving cars and EV is just a stepping stone to that.
If you want to imagine something scary, image transportation that can be overridden and carry you to a destination different from where you planned to go. Sure would make it easy to round of dissidents and criminals. And to track your every movement (not that they can't already with your phone). And before you say "but I am a law abiding citizen", it only take one law to put you on the wrong side of things.
For example, you are headed to work one day with your head down working on your presentation while your self driving car blends in with the mass of transportation when you look up and notice you aren't on the usual path. So you look over to your "command screen" and see a notice that says "We see that you had a top load washing machine delivered to your house on 23March32. Bylaw 4001AB, article 325e, paragraph 1035 was pass on 6Jan34 and states that top load washing machines are outlawed in the state of Utah due to excessive water use. You are being remanded to the ecological authorities and will pay a fine of $1,000,000 dollars and a minimum of 6 month in the ecological labor camp to correct the damage your carbon footprint has left. Do not attempt to exit the vehicle or to change the destination, you have been locked out of the system and are at our mercy. Thank you for your time and have a nice day."