My final conclusion...
No, pilotless airliners are not safer
My reasoning is that absolute safety can only be guaranteed by intelligence, not by speed and efficiency or a "computer that never gets tired". Intelligence has the edge and no amount of AI will ever beat it because the AI we develop will contain the inherent limitations of our minds, at least in ability. If you have ever coded an application you will know what this means, if you haven't then keep banging on about your DLR and UAV examples till the cows come home.
An automated airliner carrying 100+ pax takes off (and lands) might be commissioned before I leave this planet but it will be on the basis of the accepted reality that it is "safe enough". By then, every aspects of our lives will be so automated and so "local" that air travel would be a thing of the past anyway.
* intelligence being that thing that computes multiple inputs and outputs to achieve the correct outcome in a previously undefined situation