Carmakers take different routes on controls for self-driving cars

Washington

CARS capable of driving themselves may be on the showroom floor sooner than you think, but whether they should come with all the current essentials - including a steering wheel and pedals on the floor - has the car industry at a fork in the road.

Ford sided with the pioneering engineers at Google last week in announcing plans to introduce limited-use vehicles without traditional controls within five years. Some other major carmakers - and virtually all of them are well along in their work on self-driving vehicles - say they will introduce automated elements one step at a time, until drivers accept that they no longer need to control their cars.