Unless you're driving on a road, and heavy snow develops earlier or more severe than you and the weather service anticipated. Instead of going the next 2-3 miles safely to your exit, your car will decide it's best for you to strand you in the middle of the motorway in white out conditions until the weather passes? Color me skeptical.
> Instead of going the next 2-3 miles safely to your exit
You’re making an assumption here that the system is capable of continuing to travel safely. Obviously being safe at home is better than being stopped on the side of the road, but that’s not the choice you’re actually faced with. Similarly, a system that can operate safely in adverse conditions is obviously better than one that can’t.
> I don't give automated driving any allowances, if it can't do what I do, it doesn't belong on the road
In that case, you’re almost certainly grouping a lot of current and safe drivers in the “it doesn’t belong on the road” category. Not having lived in a place where I’ve needed to deal with white-out conditions myself, I doubt I’d feel comfortable continuing to drive. I know this about myself, though, and am likely more conservative than you about canceling or rescheduling a trip when such conditions are a possibility. This is the same bar that I’m proposing automatic driving systems need to meet; if that means they only work on cloudless days with 0% chance of rain, so be it. In practice, this means there’ll need to be some way for a human to take control for quite a while yet.
