Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) is up by almost 60% year-to-date, with its market cap crossing the rarefied $1 trillion mark recently. The run-up is partly due to Tesla's solid execution, with deliveries for this year poised to grow by almost 70% to about 850,000 vehicles, despite the ongoing semiconductor shortage. Tesla's sizable lead in the self-driving market has also traditionally been a very big driver of the company's valuation. So how far ahead is Tesla's self-driving system versus peers, and how does it stack up versus driver-driven vehicles. See our dashboard analysis on Just How Far Ahead Is Tesla In The Self-Driving Race? for more details.

When the Wright brothers created the design for their "Flyer," they controlled the aircraft by directly connecting the pilot's body to the structure of the aircraft. A hip cradle allowed pilot movements to warp the wings and change the position of the rudder, which enabled reasonable control and stability for the slow-flying early aircraft. Over the past hundred years, aircraft have evolved far beyond the early flyer, allowing planes to now operate at the very extremes of aerodynamic performance. As a result of the demands of this kind of flying, computer systems have taken an increasingly important role in turning the input from the pilot into rapid, precise changes in the control surfaces of the plane. Today we're seeing the same evolution in the way businesses operate.

General Motors announced Thursday that Japan's SoftBank will pour $2.25 billion in the automaker's self-driving business, in a significant deal experts say boosts GM's chances to be the first company to deploy autonomous cars nationwide. In exchange for the investment, GM said the investment firm will receive a nearly 20 percent equity stake in GM Cruise, the Detroit company's autonomous vehicle unit. GM's stock soared following the announcement, climbing more than 10 percent in morning trading. The partnership comes as leading technology companies and automakers, including Alphabet's self driving division Waymo, and Tesla are scrambling to pioneer the market for fully autonomous cars. GM said in a press release Thursday the investments are expected to provide the capital necessary to "reach commercialization at scale" next year.

General Motors announced Thursday that Japan's SoftBank will pour $2.25 billion in the automaker's self-driving business, in a significant deal experts say boosts GM's chances to be the first company to deploy autonomous cars nationwide. In exchange for the investment, GM said the investment firm will receive a nearly 20 percent equity stake in GM Cruise, the Detroit company's autonomous vehicle unit. GM's stock soared following the announcement, climbing more than 10 percent in morning trading. The partnership comes as leading technology companies and automakers, including Alphabet's self driving division Waymo, and Tesla are scrambling to pioneer the market for fully autonomous cars. GM said in a press release Thursday the investments are expected to provide the capital necessary to "reach commercialization at scale" next year.