Remember not long ago when Uber killed a pedestrian?

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54175359

> Ms Vasquez was charged on 27 August, and made her first appearance in court on 15 September. The trial is now set for February next year.

> Despite the decision not to levy criminal charges against Uber itself, the company did not escape criticism.

> Days before the crash, an employee had warned his superiors that the vehicles were unsafe, were routinely in accidents, and raised concerns about the training of operators.

> Following the crash, authorities in Arizona suspended Uber's ability to test self-driving cars on the state's public roads, and Uber ended its tests in the state. It received permission to carry out tests in the state of California earlier this year.

So despite all the safety failures by the company, just the hired driver was charged...

It's gonna be the same thing as it is now:

"Tragic. Thoughts and prayers. Software problem. Nothing we could do."

Except they rarely punish individuals, and as long as they are large enough or with plenty of government contracts companies rarely get a punishment that's more than "the cost of doing business".

Look at the GM ignition switch scandal where executives knew explicitly the likely consequences of their decision and yet no real punishment was enacted even after repeatedly lying about the death toll (initially by at least one order of magnitude) that eventually officially reached 124 deaths and likely much higher in reality.

Look at Boeing's 737MAX scandal where executives also knew the likely consequences and worked to go around rules, regulations, certification in order to pretend those consequences won't happen. Both Boeing and authorities either buried or turned a blind eye to reports that this happens. No real punishment here either.

Autonomous cars or not, as long as corporations pay for your laws you will always be on the lower rungs of the ladder.