I'll take a self-driving car that makes a controlled stop for a wind-blown paper bag over a self-driving car that ploughs into an overturned truck.

I agree but stopping on the highway for a paper bag could itself lead to serious series of accidents

It's because human beings are unable to keep safe distance.

Scapegoating of humans who make soft errors doesn't do anything to make autonomous driving safer.

Interestingly, I remember this exact scenario was a noted problem for some sort of computer-controlled shock absorbers that I saw on the "Beyond 2000" TV show in the mid-90s. In many scenarios, the shock absorbers could detect bumps and holes in the road and compensate perfectly, resulting in a ride that was smooth as glass.

But they still hadn't figured out how to differentiate between a crumpled paper bag and a rock, or a pothole filled with water vs a smooth surface. Otherwise, it was really impressive.

Found it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPYIaks1UY

I feel like Level 4 or 5 Autonomous Driving will be the same -- there are just some problems that will never be solved well enough to make it work acceptably.

I think the vehicle should alert the driver, and being controlled slowdown until it is overridden. Sorry, driver, you are inconvenienced. Maybe you are in the carpool / AI-only lane, so it's not a big deal. Yes, there probably should be an AI-only lane for now.

This could exist now, but we have set sights on Level 5 at the expense of pragmatism.