I interpreted it as the exact opposite :) If Waymo can revamp the car's sensor suite this late in the process, all the while ramping up their fleets and consum

I interpreted it as the exact opposite :) If Waymo can revamp the car's sensor suite this late in the process, all the while ramping up their fleets and consumer services, it suggests to me that their software is sufficiently powerful and flexible not to need massive and costly retraining; basically I think they have "solved" the problem on the software side (given appropriate constraints such as good weather, excellent mapping, etc.) and are now working on rationalizing the hardware costs.