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A group of Chinese startups is accelerating efforts to get autonomous vehicles onto roads in the world’s biggest auto market, a country its American peers from Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo to General Motors Co.’s Cruise may find tough to crack.

GM Cruise is running neck-and-neck with Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, to be first to bring fully autonomous cars to market. The two companies are considered the leaders in a crowded field, and San Francisco is the proving grounds to refine the technology.

A former Apple Inc. engineer was arrested on charges of stealing driverless car secrets for a Chinese startup after he passed through the security checkpoint at San Jose International Airport to board a flight to China.

As self-driving vehicle experiments are launched in a few cities around the United States, Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG and a prominent auto supplier are launching a new one in the place that would seem most receptive: Silicon Valley.

Self-driving shuttle buses will be hauling riders around downtown Columbus later this year, a significant move as the city begins initiatives aimed at making it a “smart city” for transportation.

If your least favorite part of food shopping is the parking lot, take comfort: Driverless cars are coming to the grocery industry.

It’s not just hands-free driving that self-guided cars may bring into reality. Autonomous vehicles could unleash new technological and economic development on a level not seen since the dawn of the space age.

Elon Musk has called lidar a crutch. The Tesla CEO believes he can build self-driving and semi-autonomous cars without relying on the technology, which uses lasers to help the cars map and navigate their surroundings.

Volkswagen AG’s fledgling Moia mobility unit is betting on the rise of self-driving cars to deliver on its plan to catch up with ride-hailing leaders such as Uber Technologies Inc. without burning through piles of cash.

Self-driving cars will soon be zipping across Boston after transportation officials granted one company permission to test their robotic cars outside the Seaport — with South Boston first up.