Are there no freeways inside the geofence? Someone in the thread mentions that they will be adding freeways soon, so I understand it can't do those now.
Based on my limited experience with Telsa model 3 FSD and my Toyota lane assist/radar cruise control, congested highways are the absolute sweet spot for self driving. Not much happening on the sides, and stop and go traffic being quite tedious for the human. It's happy to speed up and slow down over and over again.
uh, in southern california there used to be an unspoken rule: if you can't pass the driver's test with freeway included, you go to NorCo and take the test there. No freeway - the hardest thing is the "parallel park and reverse" which is just being told prior "when you pull over, take as long as you need to get as parallel as you can to the curb, then just go in reverse, look over your shoulder, and don't touch the wheel." Well, that and you automatically fail if you hit a cow.
Freeways in CA aren't the worst in the country (lookin at you, TX), but they're still not easier than surface streets, especially during off-peak hours.
Can you expand a bit on why you feel freeway driving is "easier"? the only thing i can think of is you're much less likely to get into a head-on[0] collision.
There's fewer pedestrians that might or might not be about to step in front of the car. Less need to predict human actions. There's mostly no perpendicular intersections. Generally visibility is good, don't have to remember that there was a car getting ready to enter traffic behind the peach tree. No skate boarders.
In Redwood City (easiest dmv test route I know of), they ask you if you want freeway on the test, you say no and they cross off that whole section. The parallel parking section is done on a completely empty block and the only way to screw that up is to park blocking someone's driveway.
As to why freeway is easier: maybe not as a very new driver, but as soon as you're comfortable handling a car you can get on the freeway and the mental processing loop is much easier. Just follow the car ahead at a safe distance for the speed. Very little else, can be done with just half a brain while you think about other things.
