In the land of the self-driving vehicle, the car with the best lidar sensor is king. So goes the logic of the booming self-driving car industry. To drive safely, an autonomous vehicle needs to see the world around it, and the best way to do that is with a system that fires millions of pulses of light every second, measuring how long they take to bounce off nearby objects and building a detailed 3-D map. It's a young technology--the first application designed specifically for driving dates to 2005--and remains expensive and unproven when it comes to the automotive grade reliability the car industry requires. That's why dozens of lidar makers have emerged in recent years, each claiming they've got the laser-flinging solution that offers the right balance of range, resolution, robustness--and cost.

The benchmark Nikkei average dropped on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, dragged down by the weakness of heavily weighted component issues. The 225-issue Nikkei average lost 27.38 points, or 0.12 percent, to end at 22,586.87, after rising 103.77 points Wednesday. But the Topix index of all first-section issues added 12.30 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,765.78, Declines in drugmaker Eisai Co., mobile phone carrier Softbank Group Corp., clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. and industrial robot manufacturer Fanuc Corp. pushed down the Nikkei by over 100 points. But investor sentiment improved in the Tokyo market, with concerns over U.S.-Europe trade friction easing to some extent following reports of some positive results from the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday, brokers said.

The artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation market was valued at USD 112.3 Million in 2017 and is likely to reach USD 2,222.5 Million by 2025, at a CAGR of 46.65% during the forecast period. The base year considered for the study is 2017, and the forecast period is between 2018 and 2025. The major factors driving the growth of the AI in aviation market include the use of big data in the aerospace industry, significant increase in capital investments by aviation companies, and rising adoption of cloud-based applications and services in the aviation industry. The report aims at forecasting the market size and future growth potential of the AI in aviation market on the basis of offering, technology, application, and geographic region. It aims at identifying the major market trends and factors driving or restraining the growth of the AI in aviation market and its various submarkets.

GEOPOLITICS P03 Globalisation is facing its biggest challenges to date.

Airplanes fly over Xiamen City, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 18, 2018. After a short holiday, we have a lot to catch up on. AI made huge leaps and has made insurance claims 176,000 times more efficient than humans, China has opened their low-altitude airspace for the booming drone industry, and classrooms are getting quantified using AI and brain research. Let's get you the news. Yes, you read that correctly.

Cuban was in conversation with Charlie Kirk, the 24-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing non-profit organization aimed at promoting conservative political ideas among high school students. Cuban does not identify as Republican or Democrat: "I don't belong to any political party and I never will," Cuban told Kirk. Amid a wide-ranging debate about what the scope of government should be, Cuban argued that the government should be involved in funding artificial intelligence research. In November, the billionaire warned that the United States should not allow countries like China and Russia to pull ahead in terms of developing artificial intelligence. China's government has said publicly it plans to be the global leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, "the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world."

The Chinese creator of facial recognition system Face, Megvii, is anticipated to be raising at least $600mn from investors such as the Alibaba Group and Boyu Capital, according to Bloomberg. It is believed that Megvii will put forward a substantial amount of the funding towards supporting retail initiatives, as well as utilising technology in unmanned stores. It has been confirmed that the Beijing-based company will close this round of funding within weeks. Megvii, who holds billionaire Jack Ma as an investor, will commence a second round of funding when the first draws to a close. The firm offers face-scanning systems to organisations and rivals with Alibaba-backed startup SenseTime in sectors such as retail, finance and public security that could benefit from the software.

The United States could lose its economic and political standing in the world if it doesn't develop a comprehensive, high-priority plan for artificial intelligence. That's the stark warning from a new report issued today by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a think tank in Washington, DC. World order: Other nations, including China, India, France, and the UK, have embraced artificial intelligence by announcing major national initiatives. Many experts recommend that the US follow suit, but the Trump White House has taken a surprisingly hands-off approach. Falling behind in AI development and implementation would present a risk for U.S. global economic and military leadership.

Of all corporate functions, sales by its very nature is surely the most people-focused. While it may no longer involve quite as much face-to-face interaction as it once did, selling has remained emphatically a job for people rather than machines. However, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning are already starting to make major inroads into the sales process, adding an extra dimension to everything from marketing automation to customer relationship management. According to Salesforce Research, high-performing teams are at least twice as likely to be using intelligent sales technologies such as artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, next-step analysis and deep-learning. So, what further changes in the sales environment can we expect to see over the coming years?

If you've ever wished for an extra arm to carry out a complex task, researchers may have the answer. Researchers in Japan have taught volunteers to use a mind controlled robotic arm to help them out in doing two things at once. They say the system could revolutionise factory and construction work. Researchers in Japan have taught volunteers to use a mind controlled robotic arm to help them out in doing two things at once. Engineers from Kyoto's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute showed some people can be taught to control a third robotic arm with their brains, even using the limb to multitask.