[AlotOfReading]

Waymo has been doing public rides (2015) since before either company was founded (2016). Pony.ai also got their permit suspended twice in California for different safety-related reasons, so the comparison says more about the different regulatory environment in China than it does about their relative maturity.

[saddlerustle]

Waymo was not doing public rides in 2015. It was invite only and you had to sign an NDA

[AlotOfReading]

They were doing rides for members of the public. That's a public ride.

[crazygringo]

No, public means accessible to the ~whole public, not a tiny subset.

Invite-only is quite literally the opposite of public. It's private.