Good Bloke Autonomous Driving

[Tozla]

How is autonomous driving going to handle being a good bloke on the road (courteous driving)? For example I imagine that when full blown autonomous driving comes into effect the cars will stop before keep clear markings on the road if there is traffic banked up on the other side of it.

However will it be able to handle everyday situations when there are no keep clear marking and aren't part of the road rules? By this I mean a situation where cars are stopped at the lights and you are approaching the stopped cars and have almost slowed down and you are approaching a side street with a car waiting to turn onto your street. In a normal situation you would slow down and allow the car to join in because most people are good blokes on the road (courteous drivers for our friends overseas) and will let our fellow drivers in.

Technically, this isn't a rule of the road, in fact, the road rules probably state that a driver should only turn out of street when the street is clear and it is safe to turn. However real life situations like the one above do occur everyday. Will autonomous driving stamp this out of our society? Will the other autonomous cars not being let in feel bad about being ignored? Do androids dream of electric sheep? Will the machines rise up? Are we doomed?

 

[RichardMcN]

I imagine there will be an agreed protocol for almost every situation, and we won't notice or care. So we will have to find other ways of being a good bloke !

 

[Blue heaven]

How is autonomous driving going to handle being a good bloke on the road (courteous driving)? For example I imagine that when full blown autonomous driving comes into effect the cars will stop before keep clear markings on the road if there is traffic banked up on the other side of it.

However will it be able to handle everyday situations when there are no keep clear marking and aren't part of the road rules? By this I mean a situation where cars are stopped at the lights and you are approaching the stopped cars and have almost slowed down and you are approaching a side street with a car waiting to turn onto your street. In a normal situation you would slow down and allow the car to join in because most people are good blokes on the road (courteous drivers for our friends overseas) and will let our fellow drivers in.

Technically, this isn't a rule of the road, in fact, the road rules probably state that a driver should only turn out of street when the street is clear and it is safe to turn. However real life situations like the one above do occur everyday. Will autonomous driving stamp this out of our society? Will the other autonomous cars not being let in feel bad about being ignored? Do androids dream of electric sheep? Will the machines rise up? Are we doomed?

Owners wont be driving so they'll have spare time to play online video car games that unlock higher levels of priority for their vehicle, although if two cars with the same priority reach the same intersection they'll have to sit there blocking up traffic while the owners furiously hit the keyboard trying to reach level 42 before the other driver does..........

 

[BenT]

Intelligent road markings could inform autonomous vehicles of issues such as keeping clear of intersections. Car to car communication could also facilitate traffic flow. Imagine two lanes of cars merging seamlessly at speed as the cars communicate with each other rather than the awkward jostling for positioning that occurs when humans drive

 

[meloccom]

I'm currently on holiday in Sri Lanka, and I think its a long time before Autopilot will cope here.
Lane markings are simply an indication and it's normal to pass on unbroken lines and expect the oncoming traffic to give you room. A quick toot tells the car or Tuk Tuk being passed to move over to allow room for an imaginary centre lane and the oncoming vehicle obligingly does the same. Then the passing vehicle cuts back in with millimetres to spare and no one takes offence or gets angry.
It kinda works but I'll never get used to it and I think it would completely defeat even fully autonomous AP2 when it is entirely developed.
So I think when Elon finishes Western Autopilot he needs to start on Buddhist Autopilot.

 

[Shock-On-T]

This is actually an interesting point.
I've been embarrassed by not concentrating on autopilot and the car not letting someone merge ahead of me.
I'm normally scrupulously courteous (well, not really), but driving really is an emotional transaction and when you leave it to a cold computer to do it it can be a bit callous.

 

[Tozla]

This is actually an interesting point.
I've been embarrassed by not concentrating on autopilot and the car not letting someone merge ahead of me.
I'm normally scrupulously courteous (well, not really), but driving really is an emotional transaction and when you leave it to a cold computer to do it it can be a bit callous.

That's why I brought up this topic. On my commute to work I stop at the same light everyday and the autopilot always stops in front of a side street that most people usually keep clear out of courtesy to someone who may come from there to enter the traffic. Obviously if it had a keep clear the autopilot will eventually be programmed to stop prior but will they be programmed with a good bloke algorithm for non road rule "rules of the road". I think not.

 

[BenT]

Perhaps we will have courtesy settings we can choose from? Eg. Canadian (very courteous) or Adelaidean (not so courteous).

 

[Tozla]

If they can have a flip the bird setting so I don't have to lift my arm then that would be great.

 

[meloccom]

I think the most aggressive setting should be called "Sydney Taxi Driver".

 

[Shock-On-T]

I think the most aggressive setting should be called "Sydney Taxi Driver".

So true. I still remember one trip vividly, it was like a land-based shotover jet boat.