Metros are built out of the way. They shouldn't kill people because there are a few stations of track that they can kill people.
This is demonstrably false. There are many metro systems with tracks on viaducts and at-grade (e.g. "open air"), with GoA 4 control systems.
These systems can and do detect objects on the track. They also deal with severe weather (heavy thunderstorms, snow, etc).
I think you're discounting the experience of delivering railway systems without considering lessons that could be learned in deploying them, and applying that to self-driving cars.