Understanding the Issue: Automatic Chrome Updates vs. Selenium Compatibility

Selenium, a widely used web automation tool, leverages the ChromeDriver to interact with the Chrome browser. However, as Chrome updates automatically, your code may fail, rendering your tests unreliable.

Reason behind the Conflict

Each Chrome browser release incorporates new features and bug fixes. Consequently, the compatible ChromeDriver version must also be updated to maintain compatibility with these browser changes. Each ChromeDriver version supports a specific range of Chrome versions:

ChromeDriver v80.0.3987.106 supports Chrome version 80
ChromeDriver v79.0.3945.36 supports Chrome version 79
...

Misconception: Updating the Chrome browser will automatically update the ChromeDriver

Reality: This is not true. The ChromeDriver must be updated separately to match the upgraded Chrome version.

Conclusion

To maintain compatibility, you must upgrade the ChromeDriver binary version when the Chrome browser updates. There is no workaround to circumvent this requirement. Failure to do so will lead to test failures and unreliable results.