> IMO the presence of safety chase vehicles is just a sensible "as low as reasonably achievable" measure during the early rollout. I'm not sure that can (fairly) be used as a point against them.

Only if you're comparing them to another company, which you seem to be. So yes, yes it can.

Seriously, the amount of sheer cope here is insane. Waymo is doing the thing. Tesla is not. If Tesla were capable of doing it, they would be. But they're not.

It really is as simple as that and no amount of random facts you may bring up will change the reality. Waymo is doing the thing.