Automated Driving Is More Difficult In Winter

At the fascinating Substack Changing Lanes Andrew Miller explains why ADS is much more complicated in winter conditions. 

Worst of all, these challenges converge: at precisely the moment when an ADS’s sensors are providing degraded data, its algorithms are struggling to interpret an unfamiliar environment, and it's encountering unexpected behaviors… that is when it needs to make decisions faster than ever. In slippery conditions, as human drivers know, the window for corrective action shrinks dramatically. The need to brake can emerge suddenly, and the response must be both immediate and precisely calibrated to the road conditions.

Yeah, that makes sense. Simply put, ADS has the same problems we do. Sensors providing degraded data? Like eyes. Ears. Everything looks different? Sure does.