[jsnathan]

Even in that situation I would think that in the current climate the circumstance of the accident would also be taken into account by the public / the press. I.e. did it occur in a situation where a human driver might also have been unable to avoid it.

It would take a shift in perception, perhaps caused by mass layoffs resulting from the widespread adoption of self-driving trucks, before people would be disposed to hold self-driving cars to a higher standard than human drivers in order to feel safe. But it is not clear if such a shift in perception will occur. People still love Uber, even though the taxi drivers are upset.

I think that as things stand, most people would be OK with self-driving cars if they were convinced that AI drivers are at least as good as human drivers at avoiding accidents (wherever and whenever AI drivers are allowed to drive).