Its not a ban on autonomy, which didn't exist at the time to ban. It was directed at people trying to maximize use of their time by getting off slow moving, non-autonomous, equipment to do other things and then climbing back on when needed to make course changes.

It also functions to ban unattended autonomous vehicles now that they do exist, and it may need to be adjusted to allow for an appropriate regulatory framework for limited and safe use of unattended autonomous vehicles, but that was not a subject of concern when it was written.