I find the throwaway "take care" or "drive safely" a bit irritating. I mean I was going to be careless and drive unsafely wasn't I.
I get that. When I say it to my daughter, it’s code for ‘I love you so much, I can’t bear to think you might have an accident’. In other cases, I might not be able to just say ‘love you’, so I substitute this kind it talk.
I think it's true to a limited extent. It's at least a sign of caring, if not love.