> Does it really need to be said that an autonomous vehicle still needs to manage to not kill people regardless of their position relative to any nearby crosswalks?
If you require 100% impossibility of killing anybody regardless of what the vehicle and the person is doing - it is achievable only by making those vehicles nearly useless - such as lowering their max speed to something 10 mph (maybe even lower since it's still possible to push a person who will slip, hit their head on the pavement and die). If the vehicle is moving fast and somebody jumps onto a street, there are physical limitation of what can be done. So, if this technology is to exist there will always be a space where accidents can - and eventually will - happen.
If you require 100% impossibility of killing anybody regardless of what the vehicle and the person is doing - it is achievable only by making those vehicles nearly useless - such as lowering their max speed to something 10 mph (maybe even lower since it's still possible to push a person who will slip, hit their head on the pavement and die). If the vehicle is moving fast and somebody jumps onto a street, there are physical limitation of what can be done. So, if this technology is to exist there will always be a space where accidents can - and eventually will - happen.