[throw__away7391]

Humans are pretty good at pattern recognition. Any experienced human driver learns to predict the behavior of other drivers using subtle cues. With time I'm sure they'll all learn to use this information in many nuanced ways as well. Self driving cars likely will as well.

[devilbunny]

Sometimes extremely subtle. There was a highway exit I used to take all the time (and pass nearly as often) to get to where I was living. It has two exit-only lanes, both of which begin as onramps. I developed a very good sense for which drivers were going to realize that they were about to miss their exit (and move right) or be forced to exit (and move left). It didn’t last full-strength for much more than a year or so after I moved elsewhere in the same metro area.

I can’t clearly articulate what it was I was seeing, but doing it two or three times a day, I got very good at it.