Roadmanship
n. A proposed safety standard for self-driving cars, based on the road etiquette of humans.
In 1909, when horseless carriages were all the rage, a magazine called Country Life in America advised new drivers on “the ethics of good roadmanship.” Motorists, it urged, should go slow to avoid spooking the animals pulling other vehicles.
Today we face a similar anxious transition with the advent of driverless carriages, and that quaint term, roadmanship, is back in circulation. A new Rand Corporation report, commissioned by Uber, revives the notion as a basis for long-overdue safety standards in autonomous vehicles.
