So a human driver who accidentally causes a fatal collision should never be allowed to drive again?
Machines sometimes fail. All of them do. What needs to be looked at is whether autonomous driving machines improve safety overall. Certainly, Tesla’s Autopilot does. I can attest to that personally.
Machines can be improved over time to make them more efficient and safer to operate. There’s nothing extraordinary about autonomous driving systems. Other traditional car components got better over time. How many millions of people have been killed in the past by cars that failed to operate properly? They broke or wore out and caused fatal accidents.
We have to look at the long-term benefits of these devices and decide if they’re worth it. We have to know that there will be accidents. There always are. It’s a question of statistical averages. What’s safer overall?