NEARLY A DECADE after beginning life as Google’s self-driving car project—and helping make the idea of driverless cars real—Waymo is now the smallest of steps from launching a commercial service: It has members of the public riding in its retrofitted Chrysler Pacifica minivans, with nobody at the wheel.
In a video Waymo CEO John Krafcik debuted Tuesday at South by Southwest, kids look at their phones, teens take selfies, and adults doze off in a Waymo ride—all common enough sights, but ones that no longer rely on having a human up front, turning the wheel and working the pedals.
