Driving defensively is the rule of the road, especially during inclement weather. I trust my abilities because, like you, I plan ahead and watch ahead, and never assume other drivers are in total control of their driving. In a lifetime of driving, my only accident was a rear hit when I was stopped at a stop sign.
Not to get off topic, however. The technology of the self-driving car scares the hell out of me. The thought of using Uber is bad enough, but complicate that with a self-driving Uber? No thanks!
By the way, that Arizona accident came to be because Uber had disconnected the Volvo emergency braking system, against regulations, so that the car did not stop as intended. Uber chose to trust its detection system, but eliminated the operative Volvo braking system which would have stopped the vehicle in time. I have personal knowledge of this as a family member works in this Volvo division and was dispatched to investigate the accident. Here's a good article about the accident:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/05/24/uber-self-driving-car-crash-ntsb-investigation/640123002/
Uber engineers had intentionally disabled the Volvo's emergency braking system "to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior" but did not program the system to alert the human operator to manually brake the vehicle, NTSB reported Thursday.
If the emergency braking system had been activated, it would have been triggered 1.3 seconds before the car hit the pedestrian, according to the probe.
<snip>
NTSB said Uber's system was "operating normally" on the 2017 Volvo XC90 with "no faults or diagnostic messages."
But "according to Uber, emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior," NTSB said. "The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action. The system is not designed to alert the operator."
In addition to the NTSB, NHTSA was also involved in this investigation.
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