It depends on the context of the test once again. Is this thing trying to get onto a major artery road in LA? Hell no. 30mph would feel very dangerous when the other drivers are flying around weaving at 50-60mph. The thing would be cut off so much the average speed with the automatic braking every time someone cuts it off would probably be less than me walking on the adjacent sidewalk. Bus drivers in LA have to be aggressive and honk and muscle their way back into the lane for a cars to actually let them back in, sticking their bus out literally threatening cars to it it. I've seen them outright cuss drivers out plenty of times too.
Freeway in LA in a self driving car? Absolutely not. Full stop. I've seen more variables play out on a given day than any training model can possibly consider with good support. If someone says they have good support with their model for an LA freeway I will laugh in their face. The freeway is chaos. You have people with scrap piled 12 feet over their pickup truck doing 40mph in the middle lane, people with BMWs and a cell phone in one hand doing 100 splitting lanes with no signals, outright debris on the road (my roomate hit a log in the middle of the 101 that took out another dozen or so cars one morning, how did a huge log even end up there?), not to mention construction conditions and less than stellar road markings during that making lane identification no small task for a self driving system.
On a little loop through something like a zoo, sprawling corporate campus, or as a vehicle to get me from my parked car to the front of the venue, absolutely I'll hop right into a self driving car. On the road with the current state of the road in my city? I'll let someone else take the literal hit today.
Self-driving cars without a safety driver haven't been approved to operate in LA yet, nor on Bay Area freeways, nor anywhere that the speed limit is above 30mph; I think it's clear they won't get their approval to drive in such conditions until they've proven their ability to do so safely and without disrupting the traffic around them.
What we're discussing right now is riding in one on Bay Area streets where they're already proven their safe and orderly track record.
Freeway in LA in a self driving car? Absolutely not. Full stop. I've seen more variables play out on a given day than any training model can possibly consider with good support. If someone says they have good support with their model for an LA freeway I will laugh in their face. The freeway is chaos. You have people with scrap piled 12 feet over their pickup truck doing 40mph in the middle lane, people with BMWs and a cell phone in one hand doing 100 splitting lanes with no signals, outright debris on the road (my roomate hit a log in the middle of the 101 that took out another dozen or so cars one morning, how did a huge log even end up there?), not to mention construction conditions and less than stellar road markings during that making lane identification no small task for a self driving system.
On a little loop through something like a zoo, sprawling corporate campus, or as a vehicle to get me from my parked car to the front of the venue, absolutely I'll hop right into a self driving car. On the road with the current state of the road in my city? I'll let someone else take the literal hit today.