>For bonus points, do this when the state mandates snow chains for Lassen and/or US 4.
If anything that will be easier for the AI. People are the hard part. Fewer people around = easier.
If the AI is tasked with "go there" in deep snow, sand or whatever, it'll do better than your average person because your average person has no idea how to drive on anything but clear pavement whereas the guys writing the code are gonna get the input of experts as well as a bunch of testing and refinement.
People are nothing special. They operate objects that you must avoid. Sometimes they jump in front, and you make an effort to not squish them, but there is a limit to how crazy the person can be before you aren't liable.
Snow is tough. You have to infer where the road is from hints like mailboxes, trees, the occasional plant, and tracks left by other cars. In that area, sometimes you get poles that are installed to guide the snow plow operators, but there are seldom any curbs. This is a really tough machine vision problem, with things like lane markings and even road width needing to be inferred. Visibility distance can be severely reduced due to falling snow, and headlights will make it glint back at you. It is important to predict slipping before it happens, lest you slide off a cliff.
Of course, we combine the two. You must predict when other drivers are at risk of sliding into you, then avoid being there at that time. For example, a driver descends a hill on a road that intersects your road, and he faces a 2-way stop sign. You are free to proceed right through because you don't have a stop sign, but this could be a fatal move.
If anything that will be easier for the AI. People are the hard part. Fewer people around = easier.
If the AI is tasked with "go there" in deep snow, sand or whatever, it'll do better than your average person because your average person has no idea how to drive on anything but clear pavement whereas the guys writing the code are gonna get the input of experts as well as a bunch of testing and refinement.