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What will happen is that you just won't be able to go anywhere until the roads are cleared. That is probably not a bad thing, it will allow plow trucks to clear the roads more quickly without having to navigate around people driving (or trying to drive) on the uncleared roads, spun out/stuck vehicles, crashes, etc.

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We're not really at self driving if the solution for poor conditions is "don't drive".

Snow drifts in the wind, side roads don't get regularly plowed, and conditions change rapidly so unless they can handle the majority of the list above then they won't be able to handle winter period.

I'm saying that the limits of self-driving cars will be an excuse to force us to behave the way the authorities want us to behave. For better or worse.

Winter here is 4 to 5 months out of the year. When it snows, everyone goes about their day normally, just at a slower pace. The authorities have no problem with that, and having drivers on the road does not affect plowing in any meaningful manner.

I'm not sure why you are trying to justify such a large shortcoming - for most people having your car be randomly unusable for 1/3 of the year would be a big deal.

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