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SAN FRANCISCO — In a few weeks, Apple will unveil its newest iPhone. If the Cupertino, Calif., magic factory truly wanted to once again dazzle audiences at its annual fall event, that category-redefining reveal would involve someone saying, “Siri, bring me my car.”

A day ahead of announcing second-quarter earnings, Ford Motor Co. unveiled organizational changes that it says will improve its operations and grow profits.

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.

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.

The development of self-driving trucks and how they might one day revolutionize the shipment of goods inland has been widely reported. However, while lower on the radar screen, automated container ports are increasingly available for use and already have begun to benefit motor carriers in several ways, industry experts said.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning for both automated container port management and trucks and ships is already in use or under development in a few key ways.

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.