Alphabet's Waymo has demonstrated a self-driving minivan with no one behind the wheel, declaring the vehicle as ready for public use. 

"It's safe to say we're really close, but I don't want to put a date on it," John Krafcik, Waymo's chief executive officer, said. " We want to get this car out on public roads." 

Waymo's self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid.  Credit:PAUL SANCYA

The race is on to jump from the lab to the highway and offer the first self-driving vehicle for public use.  Waymo pioneered the technology but is facing competition as giants from General Motors to Apple spend billions of dollars to catch up.  Now, Krafcik is seeking to reassert Waymo's primacy with a push to make the company synonymous with autonomous cars in the public mind. 

The Google vehicle arm is considering different paths to commercialise the technology it has spent the past eight years developing, Krafcik said.  They include ride-hailing, trucking, and "last-mile" services to get people from their homes to mass-transit hubs, as well as personal self-driving vehicles through partnerships with traditional automakers.