Driverless cars became a reality in 2017 and hardly anyone noticed

 Driverless cars  became a reality in 2017 and hardly anyone noticed 

On November 7, Waymo announced it would begin regularly testing fully driverless cars—without a safety driver—on public roads. It was a momentous announcement. A technology that had seemed like science fiction a decade earlier became a reality. And the announcement was greeted with a yawn by much of the media and the public—if they noticed at all.

A little more than a year ago, Alphabet announced that the Google self-driving car project was being re-organized as its own independent company called Waymo. Since then, we've seen a steady stream of significant announcements from the company. Days after the re-branding was announced, Waymo unveiled the Chrysler Pacifica minivans that would be the backbone of the company's testing efforts in 2017.

In April, Waymo launched its early rider program, an opportunity for ordinary families in the Phoenix metropolitan area to ride in Waymo vehicles. In June, Waymo signed a deal with Avis Car Rental to help manage Waymo's fleets of driverless cars.

October saw Waymo launch a PR campaign focused on the Phoenix area touting the potential benefits of driverless cars. The same month, Waymo submitted a report to the federal government explaining the various precautions Waymo has taken to ensure its vehicles are safe.

Until November, Waymo's cars always had a safety driver behind the wheel when they were on public roads in Arizona. On November 7, Waymo announced that it was going to start testing cars without a safety driver. There would still be a "pull over" button, but if the software malfunctioned in a serious way, there likely wouldn't be anyone able to grab the wheel quickly enough to prevent a crash.