This didn't need to happen. It's indefensible that it did.
And there's still no proof that self-driving cars are safer than humans when confronted with novel situations, i.e., the situations most likely to result in injuries and fatalities. If anything, the evidence thus far is that self-driving cars are more dangerous than ones driving by humans.
The research I've seen is that for areas with good conditions year round they're currently safer than a subset of the population (those in at least one automotive accident in the past 5 years, or something like that).
Still not better than your average driver, but even if we start by replacing alcoholics and routinely poor drivers the net impact on safety goes up.
And there's still no proof that self-driving cars are safer than humans when confronted with novel situations, i.e., the situations most likely to result in injuries and fatalities. If anything, the evidence thus far is that self-driving cars are more dangerous than ones driving by humans.