Did I say human drivers don't do stupid things? Nope. Just today I was a few meters away (on foot) from a near accident where a human driver did something very stupid, and the two cars involved screeched to a stop about a foot apart.
But it's a logical fallacy to argue that because human drivers screw up, we should allow 'AI' self-driving cars.
Even if somehow self-driving cars managed to have fewer accidents per mile driven, less injuries, etc, it would still be a very bad idea.
Don't mistake me for an AI fanboi, but I don't understand how anything that makes traveling safer can be a "very bad idea."
In any case, I'm certain that I see the entire topic differently than most of the contributors to this thread. (I find it comical that a bunch of off-duty engineers think they understand the issues better than the on-duty engineers working in the auto industry.) Only nutjobs like Elon Musk think it's a good idea to make a car that is completely driverless and sell it
today. On the other hand, ALL of the major auto manufacturers are investing big money and effort on the topic in a more general way. None of GM, VAG or Toyota are going to be offering cars that drive around a tarmac and crash into anything in the way. The reason is obvious and the major topic of this thread: liability.
But, they are doing all of the research that their enormous resources allow. And in the course of their research they will develop all sorts of ways to build cars that
assist the driver, possibly in surprising ways. The consequence can only be that the cars will be MORE safe. No major auto manufacturer (Telsla not withstanding) is going to introduce features that make traveling less safe. It's just not part of their business plan.
Anyway, all of this assisted driving will eventually result in auto-driving. In the meantime (i.e. today) we can have fun talking about the what ifs, but it's all essentially hypothetical because unless Google starts making cars, Tesla will be the only example we have for discussion, and they aren't even close to typical.