A few months ago, I found myself driving behind an autonomous vehicle (AV) in San Francisco. It was unnerving – but not because the AV was driving badly or dangerously; instead it was driving too well.

Specifically, the bot-driver dutifully halted at every “stop” sign, braked at amber lights, and stayed below the official speed limit. That forced me to do the same, somewhat to my irritation since I (like most human drivers) have hitherto sometimes gently skirted traffic rules.