While you are allowed to enter the intersection during a yellow, you are also considered legally to have been warned and would be consider liable if doing so causes an accident.
This extra liability would seem like making self driving cars error on the side of stopping to be in the interests of auto makers who would be exposed to that liability.
Incorrect. As long as your front wheels pass the stop line prior to the light turning red, you are legally driving through the intersection and should continue and clear the intersection on the other side (not stop in the middle).
Imagine how crazy the law would be if this were the case:
- Light changes from green to yellow 1ms before your front wheels pass the stop line
- Other direction traffic runs a red light and hits you from the side
- You're now somehow liable because your wheels entered the intersection with zero ability to react quickly enough (no human can react in 1ms and no car can stop that fast) and the other driver that clearly blew a red is not?
Mostly the cars will have entered during the green, not the yellow, and were waiting for a chance to turn. When there was no opportunity to turn while the light was green, they must turn while the light is yellow or red, because they are already in the intersection and must clear the intersection.
This extra liability would seem like making self driving cars error on the side of stopping to be in the interests of auto makers who would be exposed to that liability.