The National Police Agency on Thursday officially adopted approval standards for tests of driverless vehicles on public roads. The standards require safety measures such as a system that stops vehicles automatically in case of emergency. The NPA released a draft of the standards in April and solicited opinions from the public and experts. After prefectural public safety commissions amend related regulations, applications will be accepted for tests, possibly as early as this summer. With the government aiming to introduce services using driverless vehicles ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, major automakers are expected to speed-up development.

When patrolling the streets, the robocop which harnesses Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and the latest smart technologies, can use its facial recognition software to help police officers identify and catch offenders, as well as broadcast live video feeds to Dubai Police's command room. "With an aim to assist and help people in the malls or on the streets, the robocop is the latest smart addition to the force and has been designed to help us fight crime, keep the city safe and improve happiness levels," said Brigadier Khalid Nasser Al Razouqi, General Director of the Smart Services Department at Dubai Police. He said that the launch of the world's first operational robocop "is a significant milestone for the emirate and a step towards realising Dubai's vision to be a global leader in smart cities technology adoption." "We are looking to make everything smart in Dubai Police. We are aiming to implement many smart police mechanisms, including the smart police station and robots, and adopt artificial intelligence. He has many skills including the capability to map the insides of a building and navigate its path automatically via its self-control and drive feature," Brigadier Al Razouqi added.

Uber said its head of finance is leaving, and the privately held ride-hailing company also said that its first-quarter loss narrowed substantially from the prior quarter, putting it on a path toward profitability. Head of finance Gautam Gupta is leaving in July to join another startup in San Francisco, the company said, making Gupta the latest high-profile executive to leave Uber. Uber, which has been rocked by several high-level executive departures in the past few months as it grapples with a series of controversies, has been looking for a chief operating officer to help change its now-notorious "bro" culture. Gupta's exit sets the stage for a second major executive search, now for a chief financial officer who has public company experience. About a dozen top executives have left Uber since February.

This list was KDnuggets most popular tweet recently, but the tweet only had the image and no company names or details. Here we list companies by category and in the order of high to low equity funding in each group. Company overview (e.g., headquarters location and total equity funding raised) is based on information as it have appeared on crunchbase.com The top countries for startups are: US 39, China 3, Israel 3, UK 3, France 1, Taiwan 1. For US, the top states are CA 23, MA 6, and NY 4.

Jeopardy-winning Watson is getting better and better at designing cancer treatments. New data presented this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting show that IBM's Watson for Oncology suggests cancer treatments that are often in-line with what physicians recommend. The company also announced that the cancer care product, designed to help physicians diagnose and treat their patients, is being used by nine new medical centers around the world. In a handful of studies being presented at ASCO, researchers show that Watson for Oncology is pretty dang good at recommending treatments for a variety of different cancers. From research done in India, Watson's treatment recommendations were in agreement with those of physicians 96 percent of the time for lung cancer, 93 percent of the time for rectal cancer, and 81 percent of the time for colon cancer.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is taking steps to regulate and help develop the market and intends to create permits for uses such as filming and agricultural spraying, Xinhua quoted the CAAC's deputy director of traffic management, Zhang Ruiqing, as saying.

What are you going to do with your life when the machines are better at your job than you are? World Go champion Ke Jie of China has already found out. He just played a best-of-three tournament against an artificial intelligence program called AlphaGo and he lost 3-0. To watch the video of him playing and losing is to be reminded that current debates over automation and the future of work go a lot deeper than the single issue of whether or not robots will take our jobs. The real issue is more likely to be whether or not robots will take our souls. Reflecting on his loss, Ke Jie noted what he considered to be his human failings.

Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba, said it will strengthen the deployment of artificial intelligent (AI) technology in its courier network by putting 1 million smart logistics vehicles into the market to cope with exploding delivery volumes in the future – expected to reach 1 billion a day within a decade. The smart logistics vehicles, co-manufactured with other automobile companies including SAIC Motor Corp and Dongfeng Motor Corp, will optimise the delivery route for the couriers based on Cainiao's advanced big data and algorithms, Cainiao Network's president Wan Lin said at a logistics forum in Hangzhou on Monday. According to Cainiao, the new smart vehicles have been introduced in Shenzhen and Chengdu as part of a trial programme, where they reduced travel distance and air travel rates. The logistics industry could see savings of as much as 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) annually after all the vehicles are put in services within the next decade, the company estimates. Cainiao is pushing forward with its smart logistics initiative because a "consumption upgrade" in China will drive the evolution of new logistics systems which will require the entire logistics industry to optimise its efficiency to the fullest, according to Wan.

A smorgasbord of products and solutions, FinTech describes the dynamic landscape of financial services driven by technology. From startups offering existing services at lower costs, to disruptive innovations shaking up the way we manage our finances, the FinTech industry is set to radically alter consumer behaviour and business processes. Global investment in FinTech hit a whopping $5.3 billion (link) for Q4 of 2016. JP Morgan, alone, invested $600 million (during FY 2016) on Fintech initiatives they said included things like developer API's and "interesting developments" in the bill payments area. Things are continuing to rosy for FinTech in 2017, as financial institutions continue to invest in new and emerging technologies (chart) that will either disrupt or protect them from disruption.

It might sound impressive that artificial intelligence (AI) powers virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri – but when it comes to their ability to converse using natural language, they're actually still quite limited. That's why Microsoft is trying a new tactic. Microsoft's Project Mélange, housed in its India office, is using code-mixing (moving between multiple languages within a distinct conversation or even a single sentence) to teach AI how to have more human-like conversations. India is a perfect location for this work, because it's a multi-lingual society in which many people are mixing languages regularly. Using big data analytics and machine learning in realtime, the company is enabling virtual assistants to understand various accents, contexts, languages, and nuances.