I think cars already have a sense of touch with the road with traction control sensors.

For everything else isn't touch too late, especially at high speeds? the point is to avoid the crash.

there is a lot of work to be done with gauging tire traction.

it's (generally) done via comparison of RPM, but one can imagine some future tire that could realistically give feedback about how the weight is actually sitting on the tire, which portions are heating disproportionately, and which parts are experiencing friction anomalies versus the rest of the tire.

that's the direction it would have to kind of go towards to reach the dimensionality and resolution of human proprioception.

that kind of stuff is approached on F1 test rigs and cars. multiple IR laser therms and lidar to compare temperature across the tire at speed as well as judging deformation.

Most cars are able feel when they crash into things. Usually that means it's too late to react to it.

https://wellsve.com/products/electrical-lighting-body-system....

In production yes, but it’s like kids, you don’t want them to fall and hurt themselves, however that’s how they learn

Likewise, maybe self-driving cars need to get a few bumps and scratches to learn not to crash

Cars with electric power steering has steering force sensors, as well as accelerometers, though cars generally don't have central computers - they're networked collection of feature computers in a topology somewhat like a sugar molecule.