Consider the following points when you go for a test drive¶
Write down why you are going for this test drive. What do you aim to accomplish? What do others expect? Sure you have a good idea why, but have you confirmed with others interested in this test drive? Talk with them. Try to frame a simple single line "purpose" and confirm this with others. This is the most important thing to consider. It may affect the way you conduct the test drive, the locations you choose to go, various settings, configurations.
Once you have enlisted the solid reason(s), motivation(s) for the test drive, think what data you would generate and in what format. Have a clear picture of what data you want to record and how you will do it. Do you need extra tools? Is your recording fully automatic or requires manual intervention? Do you have any concerns about your tools not working? Do you need to test them first before you start the actual test drive? Think about any likely but easily unforeseen situations. For example, if you are using some sort of map service and it is possible that you might not have Internet during the test drive, then you would probably want to cache the map before you start! Also, many times the data that you generate during your test drive is going to be volume intensive. So try to record data (for example your log files) in a way that it is easy to programatically read and parse it.
Do you have any special requirements in the test drive? Should the car go through tunnels? Does the car need to be on a busy street or a highway? If there are such special requirements, make sure you talk about it with the person driving the car beforehand. Ideally, you should have a route prepared already.
Might be beneficial to create small tables or text files in which you type in various kinds of details during the test drive. You should keep a "diary style" or "minutes of meeting" style record of the things that happen during the test drive. This could come in very handy.
To sum it up shortly, be ready with a detailed "test drive plan" and have someone look at it before the test drive. Communicate with your driver about your objectives from the test drive and try to gather as much information as possible and try to make it easier for you do so (better organization, automation, tools).