Slow-and-Steady Waymo Is Winning the Self-Driving Race: Dave Lee

Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving unit Waymo announced on Monday that it plans to unleash its cars onto the freeway in Phoenix “soon.” The city has long been a test bed for the latest in autonomy, and it’s where Alphabet’s engineers will be the first to send driverless tech hurtling down public roads at high speed without a safety driver.

Good for them. The milestone is a fair reward for Waymo’s more careful approach to autonomous vehicles when compared with its floundering and irresponsible rivals. That Waymo now stands ahead of its competitors should serve as a lesson to companies rushing forward with artificial intelligence: A little caution ...