Proactive Defensive Driving for Driverless Cars, Missing Link, Must Have

Dr. Lance Eliot, AI Insider

Human drivers are supposed to use proactive defensive techniques, so should driverless cars

Most of the self-driving driverless car AI capabilities are focused right now on the rules-of-the-road driving practices. Developers are aiming to make sure that a self-driving car will come to a stop at a red light, and that it will abide by the maximum speed limit while going down the road. A self-driving car should stay within its lanes on the freeway. It should react when another car decides to veer into its lane. It is supposed to react if there is suddenly a blown tire laying up ahead and blocking the road.

These “reactive” kinds of smarts are crucial for a competent self-driving car.

These reactive practices are the same kinds of tactics that a novice teenage driver first learns when getting behind the wheel. The timid teenager wants to make sure they don’t violate any laws and knows that ultimately, they will need to be reviewed by a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) official to showcase that they can properly operate a vehicle.

The thing is, being a reactive driver is only half of the picture. You cannot always just react to a given situation.

Instead, experienced human drivers know that they need to be on the alert to predict and try to avoid dangerous circumstances. We expect human…