EghtesadOnline: Not so long ago Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving ambitions seemed to have lost momentum despite the company being among the earliest to put experimental autonomous cars on the road. There was no business plan, and Alphabet was in danger of losing its first-mover advantage to traditional automakers and Silicon Valley startups, including Uber Technologies Inc. It looked as though the company had started another moonshot.

EghtesadOnline: For years the Google coders and roboticists working on driverless cars have focused on making sure their creations could drive safely around California roads. Now, comes the next big test: getting regular civilians comfortable passing the wheel to a machine.

EghtesadOnline: In the race to the autonomous revolution, developers have realized there aren’t enough hours in a day to clock the real-world miles needed to teach cars how to drive themselves. Which is why Grand Theft Auto V is in the mix.