Cucumber/Selenium WebDriver Ruby not popping a browser during remote session (TeamViewer)

Question

This is a bit of a mystery. I'm running a remote desktop session using TeamViewer in an OSx system (which behaves like an ordinary console in every way that I can detect).

From the command line, I'm invoking a well tried Cucumber/Ruby script using chromedriver and the tests run as expected (a couple of failures) and a visible web driver isn't popped (which I dearly want for debug purposes).

A cron like job is running periodically in the background, so collision with that (its doing similar testing) might be an issue. How does chromedriver/WebDriver handle multiple attachments?

I'm flummoxed, as are the local gurus. Any suggestions appreciated.

configuration data follows:

def initiateChromeDriver
  if (! $chromedrv.nil?)
    $chromedrv.quit
end
lastuse = 1466504423.854197
link = "https://" + $server+ ".obfuscated.com:443,*"
prefs = {
 :credentials_enable_autosignin => false,
 :profile =>{
   :content_settings =>{
     :exceptions => {
      :media_stream_camera => {
        :"#{link}" => {
          :last_used => lastuse ,
          :setting => 1
        }
      } ,
        :media_stream_mic => {
          :"#{link}" => {
            :last_used => lastuse ,
            :setting => 1
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

}
caps =  Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.chrome(:chromeOptions => {:prefs => prefs})
#$chromedrv = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome , :switches => ["--user-data-dir=/home/hannahmontana/chromsettings"]
$chromedrv = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, :url => "http://localhost:" + $chromeDriverPort+ "/" , :desired_capabilities=>caps