Indeed. Transmission failures, bearing failures, tire blowouts, and throwing a rod all can cause a car on a freeway to stop quickly. The onus of avoiding this is entirely on the following car.
If the stopping car had been an old Toyota and we all had the same footage... well, it probably wouldn't even make the news in the first place... but if it did, we'd all be blaming the rear-enders. But because it's a Tesla, and there is a possibility that AI was involved, suddenly we shift our blame from the rear-enders and tailgaters to the computer.
We've always had double standards for humans and machines.
Yes brakes will apply sooner and follow distance is likely to be safer/wider.
I just don’t yet trust it’s good enough.