I've always wondered why more attention isn't paid to this. A driver's ability to make a decision to run over a possible assailant is a huge deterrent that is not fully appreciated. To an autonomous vehicle all people will look the same and they will have to stop.

I'm most curious about the self-driving trucks. If they are driving across the country through sparsely populated areas, what is to stop a group of robbers from making a chain on the road that forces the autonomous truck to stop and then offloading the cargo? Legally, this would not be considered "robbery" since there is no person involved. As anybody who has driven is USA knows, time and distance would be on your side in the crime as there are tons of backroads and different routes to make a clean getaway...

All those sensors on the truck will be very useful to police investigators afterwards. Sure they make off with cargo, but theft is illegal even if it isn't robbery. The police are generally pretty good (despite the real cases of bad apples). In most cases "the cops say they know who but there is no proof" (obscure Stan Rogers reference), and the truck will upload the proof they need in real time.