I think more likely this is a desperate attempt at gathering data to train AI, than it is an actual effective solution to the problem of controlling robots. Tesla and Figure think the emerging AI market will be more profitable than physical robots.
But even then, no matter how good the training is, you’re going to need to keep robots away from people. If it can physically cause harm, then you have to assume it will. Even if the software is good, you can’t be sure the software is configured correctly, not 100% of the time. Machines near people have to be physically limited in their capabilities.
There is no explicit legal limit here, however there are established industry practices across all manufacturing - where robots are used extensively. So you could technically put robots in front of people, maybe even get away with it, but if something happens you’d still likely be found liable for not taking appropriate safety measures.
A big issue is probably that we need to limit the ability of robots to less than that of humans. As well as being less desirable than making robots that perform better than humans, this also likely hits material limitations - metal parts are heavy, so servo motors have to move significant mass with significant force such that the mass of human body parts they collide with is negligible. To reduce the force to safe levels, everything has to be much lighter, which leads to fragility and other physical limits.
Car software is a massive issue in many regards. Traditionally they’ve been terrible at it, many outsource to small outfits and the end product tends to be crap. Kind of like TVs, the software is bloated and the hardware (CPU and memory) is cheap. But all of it is proprietary, meaning you can’t reprogram them, and this is mandated by law in some parts such as engine management.
There is diagnostics, though, and some of it is standardised and has been for decades. Other parts are proprietary, but it is possible to gain access to some of it. Technology Connections just started a series on car stuff, and it starts with how the Engine Management Unit (or whatever Nissan call their car computer) handles the fuel injection mixture to continuously oscillate between rich and lean and ensure proper catalytic conversion of the exhaust while also monitoring the condition of the catalyst.
So yeah, you can maybe see why some of it should be locked down and difficult to interfere with, and why laws mandate this. If cars are supposed to meet emissions requirements, you have to ensure that somehow.
Unfortunately there aren’t as many laws requiring car manufacturers to open up other things in their software.
Bob’s Autos would probably have some sort of OBD tool for whatever vehicles he expected to work on. Car mechanics either keep up with the industry (and pay for access to some things) or they go out of business. And the cost is ultimately passed on to the customer.