Waymo's goal with its autonomous-driving, ride-hailing program

Autonomous cars are all the rage these days, and plans to turn self-driving cars into ride-hailing fleets are nothing new. 

What is new is a pilot program from Waymo that is actually using self-driving cars to tote people around in Phoenix. Though Waymo isn't the first company to do something like this, putting regular people into self-driving cars is still a big deal. So what does Waymo hope to learn from the program?

In IT Blogwatch, we fasten our seatbelt. 

So what is going on? Peter Henderson has the background:

Alphabet Inc's Waymo...will begin testing a self-driving car program for hundreds of families in Phoenix, Arizona and is buying 500 Chrysler minivans to do so.
...
[This] is the first public trial of Waymo's self-driving cars. The vehicles include human operators...behind the wheel, in case intervention is required and to take feedback.

Sounds interesting. How will the program work? David Streitfeld has the details:

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