Autonomous driving is distinctive in that the technology will be proven in principle long before it is fully rolled out in practice – perfected on test routes but still challenged by real-world conditions. This differs from say aviation, where because flying does not involve direct interaction with other aircraft, except on the ground while taxying, autonomous control could be deployed in stages. In fact, fly by wire was introduced by Airbus in the 1980s and some of the hand-off issues between automated and manual operation were then addressed following an Air France crash in 1988. But for cars, the transition through partial autonomy will be long and painful, which is what these recent crashes and incidents have confirmed. This is…