Every time an asshole recklessly endangers the occupants of a self driving car, the car will have recorded the entire event. They should send these to a central clearinghouse and after a certain threshold hand them over to the appropriate prosecutor for charging and conviction. We'll all be safer.
If the asshole can't bring himself to drive civilly, eventually he'll lose his license on points and have to ride around in a self driving car!
No, (s)he wants to turn traffic safety violation reporting over to crowd-sourcing. There is a large difference. I am in favor of the same thing myself since humans drivers prove every day (look at the number of preventable accidents on roads) that they should not be trusted with operating large motor vehicles, especially if alternatives exist in the way of autonomous vehicles. If driving behavior is accountable in the same way as, say, banking transactions, then that seems like a good thing.
ATMs are good comparison. They are left unattended but photo document themselves and their environment. If you attack an ATM it will provide the evidence for a prosecutor to charge you.
I think it'll be great when road ragers can't count on anonymity to protect their reckless, unsafe and illegal habits. Think how pleasant it will be to drive when everyone actually drives safely.
Surveillance state seems like a real stretch in this case. There is no right to privacy when you're driving on public roads, you can now and will continue to be photographed while driving. It's already happening anyway, highways have road cams, people have dash cams. If there's a problem, it's already here.
If the asshole can't bring himself to drive civilly, eventually he'll lose his license on points and have to ride around in a self driving car!