* Since safety regulations will be required for this, include a built in self test, with a refusal to engage self driving until the test/sensors are deemed safe enough.
* Race cars use a spool of plastic film over their cameras, so a clean window is always ready. That's on option. There's the standard wiper. If you look around next time you're out, you'll see that most cars are very clean. So, I think this would be a non issue for most people.
* Since the self test requirements may become more stringent over the years, cars that can't comply with the latest requirements can have an anual/semi annual verification, like we do now for emissions of older cars. Maybe as part of the standard, thresholds for the self test will need to be adjustable, to keep them in the "safe" range, and trigger earlier checks/cleaning.
* You have to compare all of this to having a human behind the wheel.
I am not sure if you live in the USA but we have dozens of states without any car inspection at all. In my city alone there are hundreds if not thousands of cars and trucks that drive around without mufflers or exhaust bypass, headlights broken or off at night.
Tesla Model3 is one of the most popular selling cars now and that's just a hop and skip away from someone hacking the self-driving to always being on and selling it for cheap like the exhaust bypass hack that's been done to tens of thousands of trucks on the road today. https://www.thedrive.com/news/inside-the-epas-messy-war-on-d...
* Since safety regulations will be required for this, include a built in self test, with a refusal to engage self driving until the test/sensors are deemed safe enough.
* Race cars use a spool of plastic film over their cameras, so a clean window is always ready. That's on option. There's the standard wiper. If you look around next time you're out, you'll see that most cars are very clean. So, I think this would be a non issue for most people.
* Since the self test requirements may become more stringent over the years, cars that can't comply with the latest requirements can have an anual/semi annual verification, like we do now for emissions of older cars. Maybe as part of the standard, thresholds for the self test will need to be adjustable, to keep them in the "safe" range, and trigger earlier checks/cleaning.
* You have to compare all of this to having a human behind the wheel.