PEOPLE RESPOND TO INCENTIVES, AND THE LACK OF CONSEQUENCES: Will Overly Polite Self-Driving Cars Brake for Jerks?

“Pedestrians and other human road users, in contrast, gain incentives to behave erratically, even where they do not have the legal right of way. The more it seems that a bicyclist will run a stop sign, a pedestrian step into the road, or a human driver ignore a red light, the more cautiously an autonomous vehicle will behave. Pedestrians gain an incentive to pretend to be drunk, or to ostentatiously behave as if they had no conception that cars could be dangerous.”

Self-driving cars, which have politeness and caution built in from the start, will always fall for such a ruse. And, once robocars make up most of the vehicles on the road, stopping the general flow of traffic will literally be child’s play.

Well, maybe we can give them tasers.