> 2. The manufacturer will be liable.
We already have big corporations that will risk huge liabilities for fatal vehicle accidents; they're called insurance companies.
So there's precedent for big corporations risking huge liabilities. Just instead of collecting an annual "insurance premium" they'll be collecting an annual "self-driving service subscription"
Link for curious: https://philosophia.uncg.edu/phi361-matteson/module-1-why-do...
I understand you to mean that there was not a dramatic result; I believe there were results - engineers and managers changed their goals to include more testing of components, IIHS and regulators also added testing. Automakers do respond to forced recalls. Reputational harm taken as seriously as direct fines and punishment.
The best driver aid systems I've seen are still just well-executed implementations of lane keep/change assist and radar cruise control- technologies that have been available in luxury cars for ~15 years. None of this stuff is actually new technology. It took decades to make existing driver aid technologies reliable and cheap enough to make them available to the average new car buyer. I have no reason to believe it will get easier from here.
I also have no reason to believe that the legal dilemmas behind autonomous driving features will go away. One of two things must happen- in fatal accidents caused by a car operating autonomously:
1. The driver (occupant?) will be liable. OR,
2. The manufacturer will be liable.
Option (1) is unprecedented, morally reprehensible, and would likely be overturned when some manufacturer eventually screws up on a Ford Pinto scale. Option (2) means that autonomous driving features will forever be hampered by the "keep your hands on the wheel!" warning bells that we already deal with today.