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I think we should mobilise parts of Sustrans, CTC, LCC,
Spoke to Martin Keys, the Policy officer (campaigns manager) for British Cycling who wasn't aware of this issue. He works with sustrans and cycling UK (ctc) on policy and comms with the DfT. He wants more info. I'll send him and the other orgs (as TABS director) info based on your OP. If you wish to elaborate further David that would be useful.
Worth engaging driving orgs... IAM AA too
skydancer
Velocio
There is a classic ethical problem called the Trolley Problem, and you can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem .
The gist of it is a tram on rails, hurtling out of control down a street, in front of you are 5 pedestrians, and you have the choice to pull a lever and send the tram on a different line in which it will collide with another tram killing the 1 occupant of the tram, or to not pull the lever and let it kill the 5 pedestrians and in doing so save the occupant.
Do you pull the lever or not? Do you get involved at all, and if so by how much?
Lots of arguing has gone on about this problem, and you can try thinking about it yourself.
How it relates to self-driving cars... what should a car do when it foresees a situation in which it is unavoidable that someone will die, an occupant of the vehicle versus a person outside the car (pedestrian, cyclist, etc)?
Mercedes Benz are the first to break cover on this dilemma, Mercedes Benz have decided that their cars will always prioritise car occupants over those outside the vehicle: http://blog.caranddriver.com/self-driving-mercedes-will-prioritize-occupant-safety-over-pedestrians/
I believe that this is the opposite of what other road users, and city inhabitants want.
I believe that self-driving cars should be so significantly safer than manual drive for the car occupants that the danger (such that it exists) should be born by those who chose to acquire and use such a vehicle.
I believe that self-driving cars should never prioritise externalising danger onto other people in the vicinity, be it pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicle drivers and passengers.
I believe that if there is a scenario in which externalised danger is unavoidable, then self-driving cars need to act predictably to minimise the externalisation as much as possible even at the cost of the occupant.
Thankfully this is at an early stage, but I think we should mobilise parts of Sustrans, CTC, LCC, and individuals to ensure that the Mayor's office, and other notable people with authority, are informed of the risks and take steps to prevent vehicles that chose to externalise danger from operating within built-up areas.