So it took a few years longer than originally planned?

See "US citizens will need a visa to visit Europe starting in 2021" (https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/us-citizens-need-visas-to...) with 256 HN comments from 2019 at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19346012 .

Although the exact launch date of the new travel authorization is uncertain,

Ahh, so it could be another four years? :)