Yes, exactly, this is always the same example I give (in my case the 401 here in Ontario, Canada) -- blizzard in the middle of February, lane markings covered, highly unpredictable road surface, spontaneous temporary lanes, cars working at a crawl, snow plows coming through that you have to move over for, and can't pass, cars or trucks jack-knifed or half in the ditch. This kind of thing happens to varying degrees at least once a year, and I honestly don't think that these scenarios are actually properly in the imagination of the primarily-California-based engineers who work on self-driving.
For context, the greater Toronto region is 6 million people, and Great Lakes region from here over to Chicago is multiples of that. Winter is 4-6 months. This is not an insignificant edge case for a small population, and if self-driving can't handle it, no thanks from this driver.
It isn't snark. It's just blunt truth. Those places won't get it first either. If self driving cars come about, their full feature set may well be geo-limited. Even covering just California, Arizona, and Texas would make the technology amazing.
Not to speak of the Chinese, who will simply build their cities to include road beacons or whatever is necessary to keep AVs effective.
I'm sorry but it's troll-level behaviour to slap the "insignificant market share" label on the entire northeast and midwest which includes 6/10 of the largest "urban agglomerations in North America": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_urban_aggl...
Unfortunately, troll behaviour or not, that's how SF companies behave in the real world. The usability of their products tend to be proportional to how close you are (physically or otherwise) to the bay area. I live in Calgary and I would be very surprised (and happy) if I see self-driving cars here before the end of the century.
You're just not important enough for how hard it is. Why is that so offensive to you? You don't even want it and you're upset no one cares to offer it to you? Bizarre.
Is this like not being invited to a party you didn't want to go to? Okay, then, maybe Tesla's snow driving test will give you the chance to ostentatiously decline.
Not the OP, but personally I don't want other self-driving cars on the road with me risking me and my family. We know how easily, and plentifully, software bugs get introduced every single release, I would imagine developers being the last set of people who are willing to risk their life on software.
Because I'm not talking about when it's snowing. I'm talking about the entire season of winter. The snow doesn't disappear when it stops snowing. Even when plows come they're not getting down to asphalt half the time. It's still obscuring the curbside and road markings for weeks or months.
Yes, freeways, highways, and major roads might have their curbs and markings restored to full visibility within a day or two. But most roads do not.
For context, the greater Toronto region is 6 million people, and Great Lakes region from here over to Chicago is multiples of that. Winter is 4-6 months. This is not an insignificant edge case for a small population, and if self-driving can't handle it, no thanks from this driver.