Ford's renowned BlueCruise self-driving system is nearing a milestone of level 3 autonomy, according to its CEO, Jim Farley; this massive progress will soon allow drivers to do more while driving.

There are six levels of driving autonomy in the automotive industry, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. 0 means fully manual, and 5 stands for completely autonomous driving capability.

These are challenging times for automakers. While advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) have become a central focus of automotive technology, widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles remains at ...