>I'd argue we already have too much testing under "ideal conditions." I want to see self-driving vehicles tested in snow, in rain, in strong winds, in fog, and on mountain roads.
Unfortunately, the vehicles don't yet work perfectly under "ideal conditions". I think this ought to be the first step. There's no need to have a "blanket" rollout of autonomous vehicles - start in ideal cities and then spread further.
Granted, I DO think that they'll find driving in snow/rain/winds to be fundamentally different enough from ideal urban driving that the exact methods the vehicle AI has "learned" may not directly apply. So, it may merit testing in parallel, because as you've said we need to stop ignoring these cases.
I guess my point is a long-winded way of saying "Yes we need to test those cases, but in addition to ideal urban conditions, not instead of."
In the States, the plethora of drivers & traffic creates countless more variables for an autonomous vehicle to deal with.