"~40k people die in the US from human caused car accidents every year (~12.9 deaths per 100,000 people, ~1.37 deaths per 100 million miles traveled), and we're getting squeamish about the robot that never gets tired, drunk, or inattentive?"

And never is held responsible, never compensates its victims and never gets punished.

It's anybody's guess. No one knows who will be held responsible. I find it difficult to imagine a so-called "tech" company accepting responsibility for damages, injury or death caused by software, but who knows.

In the one case so far in AZ, Uber was not held criminally liable. Instead an Uber driver plead guilty to negligent homicide. Uber quickly settled the civil case with the victim's family. The amount of the settlment is not public information.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/backup...

https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/29/technology/uber-fatal-crash...