While there's few things I'd love more than step into a car and not worry about driving at all to work - it's not driving for pleasure at all, but a stress- and congestion-filled mess - the bigger issue is that right now, the US is very much based on the idea of cheap fuel. It's not just the efficient robocars that have to change the transport landscape, but also the infrastructure.

Changing the infrastructure and allowing people to use a bike or to just walk instead of infrastructure being hostile to these forms of transport would also do good - because it'd eliminate the need for a car for smaller distances. The 3-wheeled Aerorider you showed can negate concerns about weather and carrying things - it's just that the cost is much higher than that of a conventional bike, which couldn't work as smoothly in regular traffic due to its lack of speed.

edit: Should've read the "Objections" page. Since the roads are already very wide, just painting lines and making laws protecting cyclists might do the job in the meantime.

I suspect that we can get much of the way towards the robocar vision without actually admitting it. That is, as you described, robocars will be sold as regular cars with crash-resistance built in as a feature. Then, as people realize that they can tune out while "driving," they'll start paying less and less attention. At some point, people will admit that they are actually passengers and not drivers, but at first it will be, "I'm just letting the crash-avoidance system take over for a few seconds while I find my kid's sippy cup." Those few seconds turn into minutes as people learn what they can get away with.