What computational complexity classification does autonomous/self-driving cars belong to?
Complexity theory is mostly interested in decision problems and in optimization problems, and your problem belongs to neither class. Complexity theory is also interested in other resources, such as communication, but at the cost of neglecting computational complexity.
Apart from not fitting the mold of problems typically considered in complexity theory, your problem is also not well-defined. There is no accurate and formal specification of the required behavior. Without such a specification it is hard to mathematically gauge its complexity.
While it is possible to abstract some aspects of &quot;autonomous driving&quot; into pieces which do fit current theory, in my opinion it doesn't bring us any closer to understanding the actual difficulty of solving this problem.
Complexity theory won't help you in understanding the problem of poverty, or even the problem of writing poetry, or even the decision problem of determining whether a given poem is &quot;good&quot; or &quot;bad&quot;. It is not an all-encompassing theory of reality, and as you observe, it doesn't even capture all problems in which computers are involved.
Autonomous driving, in particular, combines hardware, software, legal issues, and philosophical issues. When designing autonomous vehicles, we also design the sensors available to the software controller, the mechanical interventions it is allowed to use, the laws it complies with, and so on. All of these important and pertinent issues are beyond what computational complexity theory offers.