Online Public Relations Thoughts

Waymo has announced it has launched its public, driver-less taxi service in Phoenix suburbs.  Is it too little, too late?  The company had first scheduled a launch for 2018 when interest in driver-less technologies were still at a high.  But, then reality set in and one company after another delayed or backed out.  The truth is no technology yet is completely without a human driver or monitor -- not even Waymo.  There are too many variables for software and hardware.  Waymo, to its credit, has been more cautious about touting the technology as it labored to solve glitches in the system.  Other companies have made a publicity splash but have not produced.  Tesla's system has been proven faulty in a series of high-profile crashes.  Waymo has giant leaps yet to make -- for example, how to make the technology work in snow and fog.  Staying in the desert has let the company get rid of pesky variables but the vast territory of the US is not sand and cactus.  Driver-less technology appears to be 10 years away, and perhaps forever.