Not sure what you mean by deceptive or political. Once Waymo had good FSD, they launched an early access program in Chandler, AZ where they allowed some people to join and provide feedback by riding in their robotaxis with safety drivers. Now, as the FSD has gotten better, they have opened up to the general public and have removed the safety driver from some rides. They are are testing in 25 cities (with no passengers) and will probably launch ride hailing services in those cities once they deem the software good enough to handle everything with no risk.

Waymo is doing some rides with no safety driver. They are just keeping safety drivers for those routes where they think there might still be a risk of an accident. It’s just part of Waymo’s high safety process since they are carrying passengers in their robotaxis. Personally, I think it’s better to play it safe and keep a safety driver perhaps longer than necessary than to have an accident where a passenger gets injured and essentially kill autonomous driving because the public loses all trust in autonomous driving.

The safety driver is still necessary because the FSD is not perfect yet. it is a still a work in progress. But it is the most advanced FSD we have in the world today. No it is not making money yet. But it will once they perfect the FSD and are able to permanently remove the safety driver from all robotaxis.

I have to say, I find it interesting to see Tesla fans being so hard on Waymo for not making money yet or for still needing safety drivers in some rides. Waymo has achieved the best FSD in the world, far better than Tesla or anyone else. What Waymo has achieved so far is a true technological miracle. I don’t see anyone else with robotaxis with no safety drivers in them, taking passengers around a city with no accidents. I don’t see Tesla with hundreds of cars driving around with no driver in them. But somehow it is not good enough because it is not perfect yet?