Cameras and laser sensors are cheap. The cutting-edge technology here has nothing to do with the hardware and everything to do with the software.
“What if a range finder goes out driving on a suburban road that has kids on it? This is just fantasy mental masturbation.”
What if the brakes/steering/etc on a normal car goes out driving on a suburban road that has kids on it? Regardless, it would be painfully simple to program these cars to pull over and come to a stop if something malfunctions.
Like I said in my original post, so many people are worried about the one-in-a-million deaths that this might cause and don't worry about the one-in-a-thousand deaths that human drivers cause. It is psychology.
Still doesn’t address the issue of affordability. Cars are too expensive to buy and maintain as it is now. We need less bells and whistles not more.