Yes, I know it was the police chief giving the interview, so it was all things she said. I just feel we should not be jumping to conclusions until the facts are in the public domain. Statements like "Apparently there was a tech in the car, watching a Harry Potter video on his laptop" are not helpful. There is a huge amount of bias on this forum against autonomous and electric cars. I feel I try to see both sides of the argument.
The bias is not so much about AV but all the Hype surrounding them, claims from silicon valley firms like Google / Waymo and Uber seem to get more upbeat and hyped by the day. Nissan and Detroit are much more measured in their approach and it would seem more pragmatic. The sheer folly of expecting a bloke with a laptop to take over in a 'real emergency' that happens fast is obvious, they are there to stop car driving the wrong way down one way streets, straying into cycle lanes, (including not stopping them jumping red lights) and other 'slow emergencies' (happen on average about once every 1.2 miles in one report I read). No one wants to admit it at the moment but the roads are going to have to be specially adapted in certain areas where AV will run, maybe sensors and guide wires in the roads, another investment to me made.
Autopilots on aircraft which have less of a job to do than an AV control system (only have to control speed, and altitude and bearing, not much to bump into at 35,000 feet), many accidents have been caused by autopilots disengaging (which they do if severe turbulence, sensor failure or other anomalies detected) and the crew not being ready to do the right thing and crashed a perfectly serviceable aircraft.
The final 1 or 2 % of AV functionality is going to be harder than the preceding 98%, is horrendously complicated and probably harder than getting a man on the Moon or to Mars but it seems that about every 18 months it is announced that they are 2 years away. Tesla will be going bust in 2018 so that is one 'silicon valley' company out of the game so a bit less hype to handle..
I have 'saved' more than one person from being run over (by my car) by noticing what was happening on the pavement, twice I have had young teen girls step into the road while busy with their phones, a ball bouncing into the road followed by a small boy etc. This is where an attentive human helps, they can 'predict ' things, I would not have minded braking hard for someone who did not step off the kerb, rather a false positive than a very messy negative.