Originally posted by PDL Since you are not telling us where you are from and the contents of your argument, I assume that you do not know what white out means.
I have driven through snow storms where the wind is driving the snow horizontally about two feet above the road and the road itself is covered in white ice. I have also driven in show at night where the snowflakes appear to be flying at you in a way similar to the old Windows 3.0 stars screen saver but the number of white things flying at you is a order of magnitude or two or three higher. Having a computer system that is fast enough and smart enough to detect several million moving objects that appear to be coming straight at you would be a challenge, it was a challenge to drive through too. (There was also a foot and a half of Rocky Mountain powder on the road, no strips, no shoulder markings and only cats eye reflectors, also white, every 20-40 yards.) Visibility in these situations varies from 10 feet to 30 feet - 50 miles an hour is going to get you off the road and buried under the snow. Also remember that snow = water that absorbs GPS signals like you would not believe.
Anyway, show me a company that is testing under those conditions (Southern California, Texas, Nevada etc. rarely have those conditions) and we will talk. The Uber car that killed the pedestrian had some of it's basic systems turned off and you can see what happened. What is going to determine that an autonomous car will be able to deal with good conditions and bad conditions. Will they be regulated? Who will certify them as safe. (I worked for Boeing and Philips Healthcare and I know a little bit about certification across multiple jurisdictions) I do think it is possible that autonomous vehicles will come to pass, I just don't want to be among the dead people who are considered "proof of concept".
I'm not sure what you mean by "not telling the contents of your argument".
I pictured a scene similar to the one you described, and figured that if sensors on a car can get no visibility, the car will slow down or downright stop if programming is good enough.
I'm not saying it will happen "tomorrow" either, and I was talking in abstract, test-like conditions as well.
But I can program a car so that its speed is linked to visibility, grip, visibility of horizontal markings etc.
If the programming is very, very conservative, it the worst-case scenario it will simply stop moving.