Google's meetings with UK Government over driverless cars revealed
telegraph.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk
Let's hope there weren't any assumptions baked in as to which side of the road you have to drive on. Google is absolutely right to start testing in all modes of driving, the UK (and the other countries where you drive on the left side of the road) are a major concern for auto manufacturers targeting those markets because of the need to switch over the steering wheel and pedal box. This causes all kinds of headaches (for instance, the steering housing turns the other way, you can't just flip that) and I imagine that if taken for granted that 'it will work' software will contain all kinds of subtle issues that might lead to trouble.
That's definitely the case in London for example (possibly one of the most stressful places to drive), where you could easily be stuck at a junction for an extremely long time unless you inch out and kind of force the other drivers to give way.
Other issues that I thought about the other day whilst driving around Leicester is poor road markings. The Leicestershire region in particular have let their markings go to pot (I've noticed this in other places in the UK too) to the point where even I as a human driver struggle to know where the lanes are. What would a self driving car do in that situation?
Then there are the 1 car wide country lanes that are national speed limit but actually have two-way traffic. I wouldn't want a self-driving car thinking it's OK to go 60 mph down one of those roads even though that's the allowed speed limit. And could it safely mount the verge or plan to be in one of the few sidings that allow it to pass other cars?
I reeeally hope the self-driving cars can be taught to deal with the complexities of the UK road system, I desperately want this to work. Although I like driving, it's mostly tedious in the UK now due to congestion and the big-brother speed camera network. The government expects us to act like robots when we drive, so actually getting a robot to drive would be perfect.
Interestingly, simply stopping in the road is probably not a great default action on a single track road as you'll block everything!
Funnily enough, this was recently brought up in the TV series The Good Wife where the self driving car manufacturer had to add in a certain amount of 'law abiding fuzziness' into the algo to match real people and to actually advance at an intersection.
Some of the autonomous vehicles could communicate to negotiate the behaviour I assume it would have to work without in order to deal with both non-autonomous vehicles and areas of no cell phone signal.
Other country hazards such as sheep, cattle, horses, deer, foxes, badgers and bunny rabbits create a complex set of responses. Sheep and horses might need to be approached slowly to encourage them out of the way. Rabbits you can often avoid by steering into their direction of travel because they'll go back the way they've come to escape the danger.
Even the non-autonomous vehicles could have the capacity to show on-screen to the driver what it's planning to do, or what it will do based on your actions. That could be quite a cool approach, although the systems would have to be smart enough to not overload human drivers with too much information (and in turn cause accidents due to distraction).
Other than that I can't think of anything special about the right. Or left for that matter. You should only overtake on the right but that's not a law it's just in the highway code. But you can only find room to undertake on a motorway anyway.
Here's an unreliable source: "The overriding rule of the road in France is Priorité a droite which basically means that you must give way to traffic coming from your right. It is an archaic law that dates back to the times of the horse and cart and for some unknown reason has never been repealed. It is true to say however that the French have spent thousands of millions of Euros to indicate that it does not apply in most circumstances. We have tried to explain some of the mysteries surrounding this law, but the old driving proverb is very apt here. "if in doubt put both feet out" i.e. Slow down or stop."
From http://www.vendee-guide.co.uk/priority-a-droite.htm
(That's not good advice, obviously, as if it was the only principle you knew it would lead to hopelessly tentative driving.)
A slightly more comprehensive source: http://www.france-pub.com/forum/2012/04/14/la-priorite-a-dro...
It's less and less used, because most new intersections have priority markings. But it still helps in parking lots and unmarked intersections.
It basically means on a level crossing that you should yield to the car that is to your right. This a basic rule, adapted in priority by signaling law enforcement, traffic lights, traffic signs, signs on the floor of the road, and then mutual understanding between all drivers. On a roundabout its the otherway round (priority is to the car on the left, by virtue of cars on the roundabout having priority). This will be reinforced by signs next to the road and special triangels on the road surface (e.g. see https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaientanden_%28verkeer%29).
It is the fall back rule in case there are no signs or other regulations. i.e. in the us its is the fallback rule for a fourway stop situation. In the EU its the basics and people drive in the expectation that if you are on their left you will yield as in accordance with this rule.
The black line through the sign means that you are no longer on a priority road and now need to give priority.