They will, in fact, do a much better job of it than a human driver. An automated car will detect the obstacle faster, make a better decision on evasive maneuve

They will, in fact, do a much better job of it than a human driver. An automated car will detect the obstacle faster, make a better decision on evasive maneuvers (based on a much better understanding of the current conditions), and apply that decision _much_ faster than a human driver could. I mentioned this elsewhere in the thread, but a modern car processes a collision _very_ quickly. It detects it, decides what to do about it (which airbags to fire, which seatbelt pretensioners to deploy, etc), and implements those safety measures _before the driver is aware the collision has occurred_. Apply that same processing latency to evasive maneuvers and you'll see just how much safer automated cars can be.