Which, once more, was not happening here. The car was lost, not out of control. And the built-in solution was applied, and worked.
What do you really want here? You've never been in a Uber that took a wrong turn? Never argued with a cab driver about a route? Never been stuck in an airliner at the end of a runway waiting for clearance? Vehicles do things their occupants don't like all the time, and no one freaks out on the internet about it.
> You've never been in a Uber that took a wrong turn? Never argued with a cab driver about a route?
If a cab driver keeps cricling on a parking lot, again and again and again, never finding the obvious exit, I'll get a bit concerned and eventually tell him "OK, never mind, I'll find another way, just drop me there". If he refuses to let me off, and locks the doors, and keeps circling, I'll be extremely anxious. This is horror movie material.
Isn't that exactly what happened here? Rider pushed the help button, got help, and was dropped off. Right there.
I think you get to the truth of the matter with your "horror movie material" quip. You don't think this situation was dangerous. You think it was scary because of the robot. Well, OK. But that's not a safety argument.
Airliners are legally required to have emergency exit doors that can be activated by anyone inside the airliner as long as the cabin isn't pressurized. You also know, before you board the airliner, that you won't be able to get off it for several hours. So, if you have an appointment with your probation officer in half an hour or need to pick up your kids from school in half an hour, you won't board in the first place.
You're apparently arguing that passengers of self-driving cars should not have the same legal and mechanical protections that the passengers of these other types of vehicles have.