Yeah, legal liability would be the biggest obstacle. But what about this? Limit autonomous cars to 20-25 mph, a speed where most crashes are survivable.
Have an automated network of medium speed (read: 80-100 mph) electrified rail transit (that won’t interact with other people/cars as much and is confined to a fixed track, so isn’t as prone to crashing) for longer trips between cities. If the vehicles don’t need conductors and engine drivers, they become much cheaper to run, and thus can be smaller and more frequent. You should be able to reserve an autonomous car that would pick you up at the other end…
Or the other option is self-driving cars that can drive onto a guideway and be separate from traffic AND collect power for longer distances. But that comes with the problem of not being able to move around much within the vehicle, unlike a larger train-like vehicle where you can get up, pee, buy a sandwich, etc.
Basically, go back to the horse/buggy and train paradigm that prevailed till the early 1900s. Except with much faster/more frequent trains and air travel to link more distant points.
