I was less than 18, using one of those little cars that reaches at most 50 Km/h. I slammed the break and manage to stop maybe 2 cm from the kitty, which managed to continue out of the street alive.
The scooter behind me came close to me and complained that I almost killed them by slamming the breaks. To this day, I still don't know if that was the right call. That guy could have been a dad and I could have killed a father. Still I couldn't think of killing a cat either.
The reason why the guy behind me survived is because he did veer when I slammed the breaks
It sounds more like instead of learning a lesson about following too closely, he decided to turn the mix of anger or fear onto you. Hopefully, with time removed from the situation, he will realize that he should not follow as closely. And hopefully you won't be too affected by guilt-manipulation. (Obviously, it's a good idea when something behind you cannot slow quickly, to try not to brake too quickly, but in theory, a scooter should be able to stop very quickly.) With hard calls, you only can do your best with the information you had at the time.
So ever 0 isn't "safe", lol
Still, this cat was on a busy stretch of 16th Street for nearly a decade and was unharmed by human drivers. I think Waymo failed pretty badly here. Some of the dismissive comments I've seen on this topic seem to me like they're making excuses.
The interesting point will be when insurance companies reduce your rate if your car doesn’t have a steering wheel (or, equivalently, charge a “driving manually” fee). It might be obscured if car companies take on the risk themselves, but at some point people will start to notice that driving manually costs more.
Not "better than the best", but "safer than the average driver" - and if you aren't the only one on the road, your safety is a mix of your skill and everyone else's.