Google released a video showing how its prototype self-driving car can deal with many situations on urban streets, such as construction zones bicyclists. The car politely waits for a cyclist who signals to move into the car’s lane, and waits for a cyclist to pass from behind before turning.

Some people spotted the Google car driving around the streets of DC, where a bill a few years ago made it legal.

If the technology can work reliably, this certainly could make streets safer. The ever-present question is, if self-driving cars are so safe that they wait for cyclists, what happens when someone in such a car gets frustrated at the slow pace?

Will they press the “override” button and drive anyway? If that leads to a crash but the cyclist made a small mistake, would the driver still face no liability under “contributory negligence” laws, as in DC, Maryland, and Virginia (and North Carolina and Alabama)?

Or would people lobby for restrictions on cyclists who are now slowing them down quite a lot? Alternately, would people be so relaxed, just reading a book or playing mobile phone games, that they don’t care?

Disclosure: I once worked for Google. I had nothing to do with the self-driving cars.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.