The Covid-19 pandemic has altered carmakers’ driverless plans. Here’s how.

Waymo restarted its Arizona testing operations on May 11, and the self-driving unit progressively plans to get back to serving customers with its Waymo One ride-hailing services. — Sipa USA/TNS

The coronavirus pandemic is proving to be yet another obstacle for the self-driving and ride-sharing movement, delaying the widely touted arrival of next-generation automotive technology.

Ford Motor Co is postponing for a year the commercial deployment of its autonomous vehicles. Waymo LLC, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc, had to temporarily suspend its on-road testing and its ride-hailing offerings in Arizona. Uber Advanced Technologies Group recently announced layoffs of 3,500, citing the pandemic. And General Motors Co is shutting down Maven, the car-sharing service that debuted in 2016 as the wave of the future.