I think Truckee and Tahoe offer this environment within reasonable driving distance to the main Waymo development campuses.
The nice thing about EVs like they're using now. The electric motors are pretty good at responding and handling different road conditions, much faster than ICE vehicles since you can never quite predict what the engine is doing at a given moment.
billionaire class wouldn’t be too happy with getting beta tested on raw tech. They will push back because “NIMBYism” runs deep.
Waymo is being adopted in wealthy areas first. To the extent there is NIMBY sentiment, it's towards rideshare drivers. (Also, billionaires probably wouldn't be taking Waymo. If their properties aren't fly in they're driving themselves.)
theyd want to shut off on the odd snow day that makes lines invisible, but its a lot like phoenix on having big wide roads, and the places to consistently play with snow cover are pretty empty/safe to screw up in
It'd sure suck if they go into cities run the local taxi companies and human drivers out of business only to shut down every time there's bad weather leaving people without access to transportation.
Pitching my own book here, but I think Jackson Hole would be a great place for Waymo. It's clearly delineated, has basically no freeway driving, affluent residents and a constant influx of tourists for brand building. The only challenge is snow, but the roads are well plowed and drivers generally careful. If you're working in Truckee, I can't imagine it will be a much-bigger challenge.