General Motors Co. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo rocked the auto industry last week with self-driving deals that will have each deploying thousands of robo-taxis onto U.S. roads over the next 18 months. Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, will continue biding its time.

As truck makers and technology developers work toward introducing vehicles with some level of automated driving features in the years ahead, it will be essential for drivers to have a clear understanding of what those systems can and cannot do and how much they can rely on them.

Britain is stepping up its plans to be a leader in self-driving cars. The government is awarding 25 million pounds ($33 million) this week to as many as six projects that will research and test autonomous vehicles on highways and on trials of remote-control parking.

SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son wants his company to grow for 300 years, and he’s willing to pour billions of dollars into far-out technology to make it happen.

New York City and Los Angeles, worried that a Senate self-driving car bill would make them hand over control of their streets to the federal government, have found a powerful ally: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

General Motors Co. and the SoftBank Vision Fund are partnering to invest in GM Cruise to bring self-driving vehicles to market by next year, the company said May 31.

Since the Uber accident in March, autonomous car researchers’ eyes have been opening to the need to teach robots how to drive in the dark and avoid people who wander into the road.

Uber Technologies Inc.’s self-driving vehicle wasn’t programmed to stop for obstructions in its path, including the pedestrian it struck and killed last March in Arizona, according to federal investigators.

Uber is shutting down testing operations in Arizona and focusing instead on testing in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, according to an internal e-mail from Eric Meyhofer, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and the head of Uber’s self-driving car operations.

Consumer trust in self-driving cars has plummeted after high-profile roadway fatalities, with almost three-quarters of Americans now saying they are too afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle, according to a new survey.