An interesting note from Sebastian Thrun--I think in the second office hours of his CS373 course--Google's self driving car can't currently drive in snow because it covers up the road, and the sensors can't see the lines on the road (but they can adjust for the rain).
With roads and poor signage the citizens tend to "optimize" the Government (vote them out) if they fail to do a reasonable job on those issues given how much tax they swallow up on them. And with manufacturing defects the common law provides remedies and puts the worst offenders out of business (along with a free press providing consumer reviews for the milder cases). I'm not some foaming at the mouth libertarian but let's not pretend Government is the one that's responsible for common sense things (just look at the efforts Ford went through to get people to wear seatbelts, or SAAB's safety obsession that arguably put them out of business).
If you still don't believe me go compare the "optimization" of your local DMV and the Google labs where these autonomous cars are being created and see if you walk aways with any illusions of Government grandeur.
