We don't know yet whether they'll work in the real world. We don't know yet whether they're safer. But if someone can meet both of those objectives, sign me up.
I don't think "they" will ever be able to take away our right to drive old air-cooled Porsches and the like.
GameboyRMH wrote: If the LIDAR in an autonomous car breaks down, it'll slam the brakes automatically (and maybe send a V2V alert to nearby cars so they can start slamming their brakes early), it's the only safe thing to do.
I'd expect there to be enough redundancy that the car could move to a safe place, as opposed to immediate panic stop like you're suggesting.
Stereoscopic cameras could work a as a backup.