I think many of the ethical and legal issues related to these things have been discussed, at least in the media I follow. Sadly, the answers haven't really been fleshed out. I happen to think the legal issues are pretty straightforward: if you build/sell a car that is defective, you're responsible for any losses caused by that defect. No difference between a bad braking system and a bad autonomous driving system. Whether the legal system will actually implement this common sense is separate issue.
The more difficult issue is how one would define "defective". Is an autonomous vehicle defective if it actually performs much better than the average driver, even if it fails occasionally? The car manufacturers will fight hard to limit their liability.
And for the record, I am hardly "afraid" of new technology. I spent my career building it. I just have an experienced view of the challenges inherent in implementing structural changes based on new tech - which leads to caution, especially when lives are at stake.