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UK Government Releases Rules To Get Self-Driving Cars Onto Public Roads
rippeltippel writes: Ars Technica UK reports that the UK government has released the rules to get self-driving cars onto public roads. As the article reports, drivers will be required to have "a high level of knowledge about the technology used" (i.e. they'll be techies) and — most notably — will have to mimic the act of driving, to avoid confusing other drivers. The original PDF can be viewed here.
They are perfectly sensible regulations.
but don't require that driver to pretend to be driving.
The regulations don't say that. They say precisely this:
"Test drivers and operators should be conscious of their appearance to other road users, for example continuing to maintain gaze directions appropriate for normal driving."
It's a perfectly reasonable requirement. A "driver" not looking where the car is going, or doing some other bizarre action would distract and alarm other road users. And such distraction could cause an accident.
Note also that these are not rules for production autonomous vehicles, when the public might be more aware of what's going on. They are for test-drivers, at a time when many people won't be aware of the tests.
As usual the real stupidity is in the Slashdot summary and the knee-jerk reaction of some posters.