The do’s and don’ts for sharing the roads with driverless cars

4. Social cues won’t work with computers
You can’t make eye contact with a driverless car at an intersection for a gut sense of whether it’s going to barrel ahead. You can’t wave your hand to make sure the car will yield to your family in a crosswalk.

Instead of those familiar social cues, the “alternative is blind trust in a hulking piece of metal and programming,” Heather said.

Phil Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon engineering professor who has worked on autonomous vehicle technology for 25 years, advised being extremely careful when you’re crossing in front of a driverless car without someone ready to take over the wheel — even if the car is stopped at a red light.

“You couldn’t give me enough money to walk in front of these things,” Koopman said.