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We hear a lot about the millions of dollars in research and development that\\u2019s being poured into autonomous vehicle projects but often, that\\u2019s it. Besides partnerships and funding announcements that drop into the news cycle here and there, we don\\u2019t usually get a look inside the testing programs in order to get a feel for where we\\u2019re really at with the driverless car.

And when we do, maybe we learn things we wish we hadn\\u2019t.

Tech news site The Information is reporting that GM\\u2019s self-driving car unit Cruise \\u2013 recently estimated to be worth about $19 billion \\u2013 is actually nowhere near road-ready saying, instead, that it\\u2019s plagued with technical glitches.

This wouldn\\u2019t be a big deal, probably \\u2013 I mean, everyone is still buried in the testing phase, not just GM \\u2013 but the company has been pretty bold with its predictions, suggesting it could be deploying vehicles for commercial ride-hailing without steering wheels or pedals, as soon as 2019. Which, just as a reminder, is NOW.

But the allegations in the report suggest GM won\\u2019t get anywhere close to that timeline, saying some San Francisco test rides are taking 80 percent longer than they would in a regular car\\u2026 not to mention, the vehicles appear to have higher incidents of crashes than human driven vehicles and often encounter \\u201cnear collisions with other vehicles, strange steering or unexpected braking.\\u201d

The report details one particularly humiliating fail for Cruise, when the chief executive of Honda, an automaker that happens to be an investment partner in the GM unit, took a test ride where the car\\u2019s software abruptly shut off, requiring the human backup driver to intervene. When the system couldn\\u2019t be revived, a second driverless vehicle reportedly had to pick up Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo to finish the demo.

I think I can speak for most of us here when I say, you can go ahead and slow down, GM. While I can appreciate that there will be an automaker that wants to edge out the competition by pushing out the technology first, it benefits no one if it\\u2019s not ready.

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