IMO the difference between self driving and driver assist is who is usually in charge of the car. If the car is going to hit the breaks because it thinks you are going to hit someone otherwise that's driver assist. If you as a driver need chose to hit the breaks because you don't trust the car that's self driving.
Further, the difference between OK and an accident is normally fractions of a second. So, my suspicion is humans are really bad at this role and only catch the most obvious cases. AKA crap I am an a corn field, not hmm it's not slowing down enough I need to apply slightly more breaking power or I am going to hit that guy simply because you don't have time to react with the second situation.
Having said that, humans may be preventing a lot of issues well before they turn into accidents. The 'wanted to make a wrong turn down a one way street' is something a person can deal with easily, though it's not necessarily going to cause an accident.
Sure, that could still happen. But, they introduced it in 2014 and they are still on the road so they seem to be past the wildly unsafe stage I was expecting.
IMO, the largest risk is an over the air update killing a large number of people.
Further, the difference between OK and an accident is normally fractions of a second. So, my suspicion is humans are really bad at this role and only catch the most obvious cases. AKA crap I am an a corn field, not hmm it's not slowing down enough I need to apply slightly more breaking power or I am going to hit that guy simply because you don't have time to react with the second situation.
Having said that, humans may be preventing a lot of issues well before they turn into accidents. The 'wanted to make a wrong turn down a one way street' is something a person can deal with easily, though it's not necessarily going to cause an accident.