> The question is, do self driving cars have more accidents per mile (or more damage per mile/injuries per mile/ deaths per mile) than human driven cars?
It should matter if they have less, but in the real world it doesn't matter, because it's "scary" to be rear-ended by an unthinking machine, and business as usual to be rear-ended by a clumsy human, so people will always hold machines to a much higher standard.
Only new machines. Once we get used to them, they become 'natural' and we don't think twice about them being scary. When cars first came out, they were scary and people feared dying from them. Now, they are just normal, and we don't think twice about the thousands of people that die because of cars.
Remember that when elevators were developed, people were so scared of them they needed drivers for decades before people accepted that they could operate on their own.
It should matter if they have less, but in the real world it doesn't matter, because it's "scary" to be rear-ended by an unthinking machine, and business as usual to be rear-ended by a clumsy human, so people will always hold machines to a much higher standard.