Robocars - Autonomous Drive, Self-driving, Driver-less cars

Interesting article:

Self-Driving Cars, Predictability, and Law
Harry Surden* and Mary-Anne Williams**

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2747491

Problematically, the movements of autonomous vehicles may be less predictable to the ordinary people who will share their physical environment — such as pedestrians — than the comparable movements of human-driven vehicles. Today, a great deal of physical harm that might otherwise occur is likely avoided through humanity’s collective ability to predict the movements of others people. In anticipating the behavior of others, we employ what psychological call a “theory of mind.” Theory of mind cognitive mechanisms that allow us to extrapolate from our own internal mental states in order to estimate what others are thinking or likely to do. These cognitive systems allow us to make instantaneous, unconscious judgments about the likely actions of people around us, and therefore, to keep ourselves safe in the driving context. However, the theory-of-mind mechanisms that allow us to accurately model the minds of other people and interpret their communicative signals of attention and intention will be challenged in the context of non-human, autonomous moving entities such as self-driving cars.

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For example, bicycle riders must determine whether or not they have been perceived by nearby automobile drivers. Otherwise, the rider is in a risky situation in which the driver could suddenly turn in front of the bicyclist and cut her off. However, once a bicyclist knows that she has been perceived by a nearby driver, she can have confidence that the driver will not make an endangering move to deliberately collide.