[BeetleB]

I've been exposed to designing software and electronics for vehicles (autonomous or otherwise). There is ISO 26262 which gives guidelines on safety for these systems. Generally, developers of components will be fairly conservative, and for events where serious harm is possible, where the driver is not expected to get control if the system fails, and if it may occur in a "likely" situation[1], there are stringent requirements for testing, etc.

[1]"Likely" means how often that function is used. As an example, applying brakes is extremely common. So any electronics/software involving brakes is considered very likely.

Now whether companies like Tesla actively follow the ISO - I don't know.