I worked for a company that made the first two street view systems. They also contributed a lot to the robocar project and eventually got bought by google to work on Chauffeur.
The sensors and math that provide the perception component of chauffeur are, for conversational purposes, identical to those of street view. But the two teams are not working together. The demands of each project are too different.
it also feels that in some cases the data would simply be useless, e.g. data collected in rome and other historical cities by pedaling bikes in pedestrian areas.
I agree, the author mistakes that any kind of driving is all that is needed to build the driverless car system. When so far it's been revealed that the current level of technology requires the same route to be driven many times. I.E. It's not generalised yet, and not the trojan horse purported to be. (That and the driverless car relies on technology with a resolution that was not originally available when the street view program originally launched.)
The sensors and math that provide the perception component of chauffeur are, for conversational purposes, identical to those of street view. But the two teams are not working together. The demands of each project are too different.