They are already required to report every accident to a public agency in California.
And the safety is not hypothetical. Waymo is driving millions of miles a month in places like Phoenix. They have a ton of data to support the fact that their cars are significantly safer than human drivers.
They are required to report every accident, but not every mile these cars drive and in what conditions, so this data is unfortunately insufficient to make valid comparisons with human drivers...
Really, the problem is the transparency of tech companies. If self-driving cars are really safer, then tech companies need to prove it by releasing more data than necessary, rather than less!
They are not required to report incidents which have a negative impact on other road users. The SFFD is collecting that data, and it shows that these cars are not able to interact correctly with public safety vehicles and personnel.
And the safety is not hypothetical. Waymo is driving millions of miles a month in places like Phoenix. They have a ton of data to support the fact that their cars are significantly safer than human drivers.