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Another method is to create a lot of small companies that can go up in smoke when sued.

Supermarket delivery here is like that: the online supermarket does not own any delivery vans themselves and do not hire any delivery workers. Everything is outsourced to very small companies so problems with working conditions and bad parking is never the fault of the online supermarket.

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In California (one of the few places that's issued an L3 permit) the regulations place all of the requirements on the manufacturer. There is probably a workaround where the sacrificial company "installs" the self driving system (i.e. plugs in a USB drive) but then they would be the manufacturer and get saddled with tons of other regulations. Just for L3 driving alone they would need to get their own permit and their own proof of insurance or bond worth $5,000,000. Even then IDK if this would work given the department has a lot of leeway to reject applications on the basis of risk to public safety.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/title-13/...

Well, as we have just seen, California doesn't have a handle on risk management or insurance pricing. So I wouldn't look for them to set the standard for the industry.

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