More of an assisted drop than a mach 5 launch (though that kinda liftoff would be fun to see), but yeah it would have to take the armour with it, not that it makes much difference if the battery is ready to toast everything in the vicinity.

If airbags going off at highway speed isn’t an issue, we can probably do just as well checking several conditions (controlled stop) before pulling the trigger. Then again, this is assuming the brains are smarter than the ones yeeting a burning battery into a sidewalk.