How will they decide who gets priority, avoiding action etc..?
Try it next time you are driving....on a quiet stretch/junction/roundabout think about the data you take in, assess, make a decision, act.
Do we have the computer ability yet?
Actually, in terms of raw data processing capability, autonomous cars will have 2 enormous advantages over human-controlled vehicles: precision of measurement and communication.
Autonomous cars will be able not only to know exactly how fast other cars are going (a common cause of accidents I understand is for drivers to fail to assess the speed of other vehicles), but they will also be able to communicate with each other and negotiate for road space, even when they are out of sight of each other.
Human drivers have to guess at the motivations and intentions of other drivers, based on the subjective assessment of many subtle signs - is that car going to pull out in front of me? Can I see how wheels turning? - whereas an autonomous car is going to be able to simply ask it.
In a human/autonomous mix, humans will quickly learn to depend on the intentions and behaviours of autonomous vehicle as they are not likely to do anything stupid, but they will still be at a disadvantage of not being able to predict this speed very accurately, so care will still be needed.
If you pull out in front of an autonomous car leaving insufficient space for it to stop safely, there will still be an accident and it will still be your fault
