I wouldn't worry so much. I'm sure self driving cars are going to save a lot more lives than they are going to end. Humans are terrible drivers, and the software will only get better.
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It may (emphasise 'may') be how they share medical data via GCE/AWS that gets delayed just before a surgery (ok, edge case) or how they update bugs in a critical GPS model that happen to be used by an ambulance, or even a taxi used by pregnant lady that is about to drop, etc. Or simple general medical self diagnosis information site that by chance could have saved someone in that time slot. Or any other random non medical usage which involves a server and data of some kind that happen to be in GCE.
Yes critical real time systems often are on-premise or in self hosted data centres, but more and more are not especially if viewed as not critical but in some cases indirectly are critical.
It's estimated that self-driving cars could reduce vehicle crashes by approximately 90%! [4]
[1] http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/812115.pdf [2] http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812219.pdf [3] http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_st... [4] http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/o...
That's assuming everyone with a self driving car is driving the exact same model and they all updated at the exact same time. Chances are there will be many different models and manufactures so an OTA update with a bug will only affect a much smaller percentage of the self driving cars.
People suck at driving. Even a shitty self-driving car will save a ton of lives simply by obeying traffic laws.
But even this relatively simple level of automation causes problems - pilots start to rely on automation too much, and when things go south they are not capable to deal with it.
Airlines recognize it, and put more emphasis on hand-flying during training and routine operations, so pilots don't lose their basic piloting skills.
It's not a new problem - there is an excellent training video from 1997 - "Children of the Magenta": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN41LvuSz10
http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magent...
First, they're not anywhere near 100% reliable. They can fail on their own, and they'll also intentionally shut themselves off if the instruments they rely on fail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447
Second, an autopilot failure shouldn't lead to death if the pilots are competent and paying attention.
A failed autopilot could look like all sorts of things, from just automatically disconnecting itself (usually with a loud warning alert) to issuing incorrect instructions (which is why the pilots are supposed to be awake and alert while it's engaged, watching the instruments).
Pilots were trained on the procedure for recovering from a low altitude stall; 100% or TOGA thrust and power out of it while minimizing altitude loss. Training has now changed for both low altitude and high altitude stall recovery.
Actually it is much more simpler than a self-driving car. And if there is a problem it disengages.
A single driver's ability isn't the only risk factor... if I'm a great driver but every one else sucks (that's how it for everyone already, right :D ), then an overall increase in the population's driving ability helps me, right?
If great drivers like to drive themselves. Others wants too because they do not trust these great drivers.
In everyone driver's eyes, there are only two kinds of drivers 1 ) bad driver slower than me. 2 ) mad driver faster than me.
The point here is, no matter how good the driving environment goes, I do not want to lost any chance to survive(If I'm a good driver).