
Google's meetings with UK Government over driverless cars revealed - e15ctr0n
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/12046720/Googles-meetings-with-UK-Government-over-driverless-cars-revealed.html
======
jacquesm
./drive_yourself --side-of-the-road=left

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.

~~~
arethuza
I'm interested to see how self driving cars handle single roads with passing
places - there are a fair amount of these here in Scotland and non-locals
sometimes cause chaos when they don't quite understand the rules and
conventions. NB I'm pretty sure self driving cars _will_ handle them OK - just
interested to see how they will do it.

~~~
louthy
There's lots of 'randomness' from the historical nature of our roads that I
suspect it would be hard for a self driving car to deal with. Mostly I suspect
they'd end up being overcautious where real drivers need to be a bit more
aggressive to actually progress.

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.

~~~
toyg
I would expect these cars would simply have override-mode for the most complex
situations.

~~~
jacquesm
Then they would not be 'self driving cars'. A whole pile of the possible
applications for self driving cars hinge on the ability of the car to operate
independently. If a licensed operator needs to be present then a very large
number of the self driving car advantages instantly evaporate.

~~~
arethuza
Particularly the question of having a drink and getting your self driving car
to take you home afterwards...

------
velox_io
I wonder how driver-less cars will fair here in London, while I would prefer a
computer over many humans. To drive in London (which is tame compared to some
European and Eastern cities). To drive you do need a certain amount of
aggression; for instance, if you wait for a gap when turning onto a main road
you could be waiting a long time. There's a thin line between being assertive
and being a d..k.

------
jjp
If a vehicle is approved in the UK I'm assuming it would have to be geo-fenced
to stop me going into the rest of Europe. Either because it wasn't approved or
because it didn't know how to cope with country specific road conditions, e.g.
Priorité a droite in France.

~~~
crististm
If I'm not mistaken, UK has "priority to the right" even though they drive on
the left side.

~~~
Already__Taken
Not quite sure what you mean but roundabouts work by giving way to your right
plus a bit of a mexican standoff if you all arrive at a mini one at the
sametime.

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.

~~~
theoh
There's no Wikipedia page for "Priorité a Droite", but it's an internationally
known, if mysterious, aspect of the rules of the road in France. It doesn't
have a counterpart in the UK as far as I know.

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](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...](http://www.france-
pub.com/forum/2012/04/14/la-priorite-a-droite%E2%80%8E-priority-to-the-right/)

~~~
Angostura
I believe that Priorité a Droite was actually formally phased out in France
about a decade ago, but I cant find a source.

~~~
kagamine
It exists in Norway, there are two roadsigns for it, one is
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/No...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Norwegian-
road-sign-206.0.svg/120px-Norwegian-road-sign-206.0.svg.png) and the "stop
doing it now" is the same with a black line accross it.

~~~
jerven
The sign
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/No...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Norwegian-
road-sign-206.0.svg/120px-Norwegian-road-sign-206.0.svg.png) means that you
are on a priority road and that you should not give priority to traffic coming
from the right!

The black line through the sign means that you are no longer on a priority
road and now need to give priority.

~~~
kagamine
same same drive with a snowplow and they stop for you

------
victorantos
I think this is to test the car on UK roads

