Based on a quick read of the API, my interpretation is that this is not targeting people who are trying to automate every browser, but those who need to automate any browser.

In that context, it's dead-simple to use, and someone with very little experience should be able to get a working prototype in under 5 minutes.

For my use case, it's closer to "wget/curl with JS processing" than "automating a user's browsing experience". I don't particularly care which browser is doing the emulation, with the ease-of-use of the API making the biggest difference.

It seems very similar to PhantomJS, but to be honest, it's more attractive from an ongoing-support standpoint simply because it's an official Chrome project.