There was no world in which driverless cars weren't the eventual outcome anyway.

And, it's not exactly taking responsibility for the driver. It's taking responsibility for the safety of the passenger using their service. This is a different thing. Driverless cars still can't allow their passengers to get injured and killed which is going to present a lot of technical and social challenges for these companies.

They all thought that playing a word game would get them out of the difficult problems all transportation companies have to solve and be liable for.