It doesn't seem like you'd need an "industry standard" beyond the actual rules of the road. In the same way that normal human-operated cars with better visibility can change lanes on the highway more safely and efficiently, any improvements in sensor ability, reaction times, etc. in self-driving cars (and even automatic safety features for human-operated cars) should make traffic safer and more efficient.
what do the actual rules of the road say the braking point should be for an 8 person minivan with 5 passengers in dry weather?
what about 8 passengers in the wet at night with ice on the roads?
old argument i know, but if a human gets that wrong and plows a pedestrian they wear the consequences, will an auto manufacturer do the same?
my guess is no, and the result of that is that even if we can get a majority of cars to be self driving they are probably not going to be pushing the limits of road capacity any time soon like GP suggests, more likely they will continue to drive super conservatively and fail fast like the videos in the linked article.
