Isn't Phoenix:

1. Car infested ergo perfect venue area for testing autonomous cars, since the infrastructure is through and through car oriented at the detriment of every other form of mobility (walking, cycling, buses, trams, trains, etc)?

2. Super hot and sunny, ergo no fog, no rain, no sleet, no ice, no special weather conditions to handle.

3. Flat like a pancake, making terrain management, coupled with the nice, wide roads from point #1, so super easy mode.

Let's see them scale Waymo to at least 3 out of the following: San Francisco, NYC, Bucharest, Istanbul, Mumbai, St. Petersburg, etc.

That could be at least a decade away.

Yes Phoenix is ideal, that is why they've been using it. I think it indicates they are more than 5% done though, is my point. Also they are operating fully autonomous public taxis in San Francisco, but not the run of the whole city, I think its just airport to downtown. But even navigating downtown SF I think is an accomplishment.