It wasn't long ago that everyone from Ford to Tesla was confidently promising fully autonomous self-driving cars by 2020. Well, 2020 has come and gone and Tesla hasn't been able to do its'coast-to-coast' driverless road trip and Ford hasn't sold a single self-driving car. This is no reflection on any of the many companies working on various self-driving technologies, but rather an indication of how difficult it is to replace the imperfect human behind the wheel with a machine. So instead of replacing the human, companies are turning their attention to assisting the driver with some laborious yet important driving functions. These systems, known as Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), are divided into six levels according to the level of automation.

Of the many acronyms engineers spend their lives internalizing, few are more valuable than KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Constrain the problem, reduce the variables, and make life as easy as possible when designing novel systems--like, say, a self-driving car. The world is a messy, complicated place. The less of it you need to solve, the closer you are to having a working product. That's why Waymo tests and plans to deploy its vehicles in Chandler, Arizona, with its reliably sunny weather, calm traffic, and meticulously mapped roads.

A self-driving Waymo minivan crashed in Chandler, Arizona, this afternoon, resurrecting tough questions about the safety of autonomous technology and ripping the barely-crusted scab off the technology's reputation, which was badly wounded when an Uber self-driving car hit and killed a pedestrian in the same state just seven weeks ago. According to a police statement, a Honda sedan traveling eastbound through an intersection swerved into the Waymo Chrysler Pacifica's westbound lane to avoid hitting another car traveling north. The Honda hit the Waymo vehicle on its side, injuring the female safety driver behind the wheel of the SUV. Police say the vehicle was in autonomous mode when the incident occurred and was not traveling above the 45 mph speed limit. Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sometimes we take for granted how much the automobile is actually responsible for. Simply things like getting us to work or dropping off our kids at grandma's or making another grocery run. We do this everyday, getting in and out of the car almost subconsciously over and over again. Then there is the transport industry. Maybe you are about to nosh on some delivery, or better yet, lasagna made by you--from scratch. All of these things and products were at one point on a truck, being transported from place to place to end up at a store, which in turn was then transported by you in your vehicle to your house.

Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know. Everyone and their grandma is creating autonomous tech these days. Tesla, Audi, Cadillac, Mercedes and new players like Uber and Google are just a few of the companies developing software to make cars drive themselves eventually. But Toyota is hanging back.

A Waymo self driving minivan stops for a cyclist at the company's private test facility in central California. Stretched across 91 arid acres here in the central part of the state is Castle, the name derived from the former air base that occupied this plot that is now a private testing facility owned by Waymo, the autonomous car company run by the search giant. For the past five years, engineers and test drivers have been running dozens of cars through their paces in order to better prepare them for real world scenarios of rude drivers and clumsy movers. For Waymo workers toiling in secrecy under a hot sun, the first-ever arrival Monday of a gaggle of reporters was a bit of a coming out party. "I've been out here for five years testing and testing," said Stephanie Villegas, head of structured testing, during a demonstration that showed how a self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivan would yield to an aggressive driver.

IBM's foray into autonomous car design focuses on people with disabilities. The technology company last year unveiled its Watson-powered self-driving shuttle, called Olli. Sachin Lulla, global vice president for automotive strategy and solutions leader at IBM, said it's an example of the company's focus on providing personalized experiences for those who may otherwise struggle to drive. "This was a big experiment for IBM," he said Wednesday at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars. "We wanted to build the world's most accessible vehicle."

Apple is now allowed to test self-driving cars in California, according to the state's Department of Motor Vehicles' webpage. Few details have been revealed about Apple's autonomous driving plans, but the company has hinted about its interest in the field recently. In December, Apple confirmed in a letter to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration it has invested in "the study of machine learning and automation." The company was reportedly working on its own car, but as the Financial Times reports, it has since shifted its current focus to developing software and systems that would power autonomous tech in self-driving cars. Companies that are testing self-driving cars on public roads in California are subject to several rules and regulations.

Tesla is aiming to have a fully driverless car ready by 2018, and Uber recently kicked off a pilot in Pittsburgh where select users can hail a ride in a self-driving car. And many other companies have plans to roll out some form of self-driving cars by 2020. But chances are, you're more likely to see a driverless truck in practice before a self-driving car. It's a lot easier to build autonomous tech for highway driving than city maneuvering. On highways, there are fewer obstacles for the vehicles to worry about.

My Uber ride starts the same way as they always do. I pull out my phone and fire up the app. I confirm my location, punch in my destination, and request a ride. It's a white Ford Fusion, wearing an elaborate headdress of spinning lasers and enough cameras to document the Super Bowl. And it's the centerpiece of Uber's latest attempt to disrupt transportation. Starting this morning, pre-selected Uber users in a 12-square-mile chunk of downtown Pittsburgh will have the option to ride in a self-driving car--with a human engineer at the wheel who can take over if things get dicey.