It partially is. You have the specialized part of maneuvering a fast moving vehicle in physical world, trying to keep it under control at all times and never colliding with anything. Then you have the general part, which is navigating the human environment. That's lanes and traffic signs and road works and schoolbuses, that's kids on the road and badly parked trailers.
Current breed of autonomous driving systems have problems with exceptional situations - but based on all I've read about so far, those are exactly of the kind that would benefit from a general system able to understand the situation it's in.
Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. I’d go even further and say the hard parts of driving are the parts where you are likely better off with a general model. And it’s not just signs, construction, police stopping traffic, etc. Even just basic navigation amongst traffic seems to require a general model of the other nearby drivers. It’s important to be able to model drivers’ intentions, and also to drive your own car in a predictable manner.
Current breed of autonomous driving systems have problems with exceptional situations - but based on all I've read about so far, those are exactly of the kind that would benefit from a general system able to understand the situation it's in.