California is back on the map as a state that's serious about welcoming driverless cars. Truly driverless cars -- vehicles with no human behind the wheel, and perhaps no steering wheel at all -- are headed toward California streets and highways starting in 2018. After months of criticism, state regulators Friday released a proposal for a new set of regulations to govern the testing and deployment of driverless cars on public roadways. They are seeking public comment and expect approval by the end of the year. The regulations lay out "a clear path for future deployment of autonomous vehicles" in California, said Bernard Soriano, deputy director at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Waymo, the company that was formerly Google's self-driving-car division, on Friday sought a court order to stop Uber from using trade secrets allegedly stolen by a former Waymo employee who took a job with the ride-hailing firm. The preliminary injunction, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks to temporarily prohibit Uber from "accessing, using, imitating, copying, disclosing, or making available to any person or entity Waymo's" trade secrets. The filing requests a hearing occur on April 27 before Judge William H. Alsup. When reached for comment, Uber referred The Times to a statement it had issued a month earlier, describing Waymo's legal actions as a "baseless attempt to slow down a competitor and we look forward to vigorously defending against them in court." Waymo last month sued Uber, alleging that former Waymo employee Anthony Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary files shortly before his resignation from the company in January 2016.