Wait, isn't that what traffic police are for? Sometimes I wish speed limits were universally removed so that police will be forced to enforce the other 99.99% of traffic laws more strictly.
They just punish after the fact. I'm still able to make a poor driving choice that results in the injury or death of a bunch of people.
Government is way ahead of you there. The California DMV has been licensing self-driving cars for on-highway test for several years now. 19 companies have signed up. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration had their meetings on regulations for self-driving cars last year and this year, and the proposed regulations are out. Basic rule: the manufacturer is responsible for all accidents of self-driving cars. Google and the big car companies are on board with this. Tesla has grudgingly accepted it.
How much more friendly of an environment do they need? The NHTSA has guidelines, and wants answers, but it hasn't shown a lot of prior restraint in this space.
These companies are slow to move because they know full well that if they kill enough drivers, their stock will fall so much that they'll be de-listed from any legitimate securities market in a matter of days.
This is a complicated space with a lot of new liabilities and civil responsibilities to consider, it _should_ move slow.
Like flying, if anyone could build an airplane and fly it, flying would be more dangerous then driving. It's the FAA which keeps these things in check.
It's a fact of life that while accidents from ordinary drivers go unnoticed (ironically because they are so frequent), car crashes from self-driving cars will get covered extensively by the media, at least for the short term.
All this means that it will be a tough regulatory environment for self-driving cars in the US. In China, the government has more power to create regulatory policies around self-driving cars that take a long-term view without having to worry as much about lawsuits and other concerns.
Perhaps the fear of seeing the Chinese companies "getting there first" with self-driving cars will be an impetus for US regulators to create policies that are encourage the development of self-driving cars.