As someone who has lived in the Northeast US for most of my life (except for a stint in LA and SF), someone who has only lived in the two Waymo markets has no idea that they are playing the driving video game on the easiest mode possible. Almost no rain, it never snows, there's never any ice on the road, there are very few potholes, and the worst weather condition is some fog during which the Waymos can hide out in parking lots. At the same time, the pedestrians and other drivers are also relatively polite and concerned about their own survival.

Also, respectfully, most people who live in CA have very little idea about the mechanics of how to drive a car - they never had to learn because of the lack of the aforementioned precipitation - so it's actually a lot easier for Waymo to get to the same level as you because you are all bad drivers (mechanically, not in terms of politeness or rule-following). In CA I frequently got asked whether I ever did amateur racing or go-karting as a child, and when I learned that this was about how I handled a car (at first I thought it was just an odd inquiry about a specific hobby), I politely informed them that I did not, but I learned to drive in an icy version of hell.

I am hopeful, but it's going to be a long slog, and at the pace it took Waymos to become average-to-below-average drivers in SF, I assume it will be 10+ years before self-driving cars come to my area in a serious way.