ABS brakes are hardly a comparison to an AI run car, and what do you think an AI car will do if it's a choice between killing a child on the pavement or the passenger... and if autonomous vehicles are so advance as you proclaim, why have laws already been drawn up and passed to state a licensed driver MUST be in the driving seat at all times huh? You really are putting way too much faith into a robot being better then a human..
1) That's a weird statement. It's about automation and every piece of the puzzle that leads to further automation.
2) If you don't think that AI isn't advanced enough to drive a car then why do they exist, and, as you note, there are laws governing how they can work. Your jump to needing a pilot is ridiculous. Commercial planes need a pilot in the cockpit—two, actually—even with the autopilot engaged. This notion of claiming it doesn't exist until you can Rosie the Maid put your children into a fully autonomous vehicle that has no human pilot to get them to school while you go back to sleep is just a ridiculous notion.