Navigant about to look properly and accurately stupid?

In cases where visibility is reduced due to weather or other environmental effects -- whether that's rain, snow, dust storms, smoke, or whatever -- then the rational thing to do is to reduce speed. In extreme cases, the rational thing may be to pull over to the side of the road and wait for it to pass.

Speaking as a programmer, I hope and expect self-driving cars will be programmed to do exactly that under those conditions.

Here's a real-world example: I once encountered fog so thick, when I was driving to work, that the front end of the hood of my car was visibly blurred! If I hadn't been on my way to work, I would have pulled over and waited for the fog to abate. As it was, I reduced speed considerably and prayed that everyone would turn on his lights, so hopefully I would see tail lights before plowing into the back end of another car. Fortunately I arrived at work safely, but arguably it wasn't rational on my part to continue driving.

​