Autonomous driving on trial

For a camera, the barrier on the outside of the left-hand curve on the A3 as it joins the Guildford bypass must look as if you are about to drive into a concrete wall. At least that’s the only explanation I can give for what happens as you negotiate that corner in some modern cars with their lane-centring systems switched on.

Why else would the steering be trying to force me away from the wall and into the left-hand lane occupied by the rear bogie of the triaxle semitrailer?

It’s a rather too common and chilling event on a road I regularly drive: I can still see the big wheel nuts with their fluorescent wheel-nut security pointers spinning towards me at eye level as my car steers towards them. Of course, proponents of lane-keeping assistance systems will say it is only applying torque to the steering system, but at 50mph on a narrow dual carriageway, it feels as though you’re wrestling a big fish on the end of a line as you frantically try to keep the car in its lane and guide it around the corner.