A Mercedes-Benz magazine ad this summer described a new sedan as a “self-driving car from a very self-driven company.” On television, the Daimler AG luxury brand showed a prototype autonomous car with passengers facing one another before cutting to a current vehicle with limited automatic steering.

“Is the world truly ready for a vehicle that can drive itself?” asked the television commercial’s narrator, adding that the future had arrived, ready or not, with a “concept car that is already a reality.”

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