does that mean you're a waymo employee with access to their audio data retention management, or are you referencing their public claims? either way, simply by virtue of the video recording alone (which is truly a drop in the bucket), you have at best the same privacy as in a highly monitored human driven vehicle.
the absence of other humans is immaterial with regard to privacy.
The easiest way to disable this is by physically removing the cell modem from your vehicle, which is very straightforward. Without egress, the only way for data harvesting to occur is by physical access, typically at a dealership. However, virtually all automotive cell modems are either packaged on the same chip as the GNSS receiver, or colocated on the same daughter board. As such, choosing to retain control over your data typically comes at the cost of foregoing the built in navigation system and other features such as emergency calling.
I greatly appreciate when people reframe old ideas in a new light. It's not only helpful to the conversation, but an effective way to communicate with people who have entrenched ideas and need help getting out of a rut. Perhaps the discomfort you're feeling is from being challenged.
And so, from a game theory perspective, we understand why the sane person does everything in their power to avoid defeating the lunatic. The lunatic guarantees their reelection. They need the lunatic and the threat of the lunatic is what keeps them in power.