What is your definition of emergence? I found this one on wikipedia:
“In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.”
If i go by this then yes such a system exhibits emergence. The whole has the property of driving the car while the parts alone don’t. But so does an elevator: neither the winch, the cable, or the shaft lifts people up alone, but the whole of it together does.
> If so, how can you possibly reason about their failure modes?
Same way you do it about an elevator? Its “just” much more complex because the operational domain is much more complex.
Purported AI is not.
The self driving car won't be human like - merely a set of algorithms using trained networks to solve problems.
My personal definition of what constitutes "AI" includes emergent behavior as a prerequisite. To lack emergence is to be a programmable logic controller.
Do these systems you're talking about exhibit emergence?
If so, how can you possibly reason about their failure modes?