Pixar founder George Lucas might have given the world the word "Droid" before he sold the company to Apple's Steve Jobs but now Apple CEO Tim Cook is making no secret of the fact that he wants the company to play its part in bringing Artificial Intelligence to the world. This week he's been spilling at least some of the beans on Apple's plans for AI, although his vision seems more connected to machine learning rather than the AI technologies that would help to bring droids like C3PO and R2D2. "We see AI as being horizontal in nature and running across all our platforms and products," said Cook, following on to say, "we see it being used in ways that most people don't even think about." That sounds grandoise – and, at first sight, it sounds like they have something amazing up their sleeves. So just what kind of unexpected use cases was he talking about?

That didn't take long: One of Singapore's nuTonomy self-driving taxis has already been in an at-fault collision. Less than a month after the service launched, a slow-moving taxi hit a lorry (translation: a truck) while changing lanes, according to a Facebook post from Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA). Thankfully no one was injured in the accident, but that isn't stopping the LTA and local police from investigating the matter anyway. In a statement to The Verge, nuTonomy says that it's fully cooperating with the LTA and will be conducting its own investigation to determine the "exact cause of the accident." Instances like this are just a matter of course at this point.

In 2015, Singapore was named one of the 12 most technologically advanced countries in the world. And the country's latest project shows that it is still at the forefront of innovative technology. Self-driving buses will soon begin testing in Singapore in the hope of dealing with the challenges posed by its limited land and labour. Self-driving buses will soon begin testing in Singapore, in the hope of dealing with the challenges posed by its limited land and labour (artist's impression) Countries around the world are encouraging the development of such technologies, and high-density Singapore is hoping driverless vehicles will prompt its residents to use more shared vehicles and public transport. 'They say big dreams start small, so we are collaborating with NTU (Nanyang Technological University) on an autonomous bus trial, starting with two electric hybrid buses,' Singapore's transport regulator said in a Facebook post.

A small robot probe could make history today by becoming the first European spacecraft to survive a landing on Mars - and it is likely to be a bumpy ride. Scientists will be crossing their fingers as Schiaparelli flies itself on autopilot through the Martian atmosphere, which is expected to welcome the probe with stormy weather. The probe will take images of Mars and conduct scientific measurements on the surface, but its main purpose is to test technology for a future European Mars rover. A small robot probe could make history today by becoming the first European spacecraft to survive a landing on Mars, and it might be a bumpy ride. Scientists will be crossing their fingers as Schiaparelli (artist's impression) flies itself on autopilot through the Martian atmosphere, which is expected to welcome the probe with stormy weather You can watch the livestream on MailOnline, at Esa's website, or via its livestream channel.

Israeli Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup Chorus.ai The company, which adds AI to sales conversations and learns what works to close more deals, is also launching its flagship platform out of stealth mode after a year in development. With offices in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, Chorus' software combines artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and natural language processing (NLP) to unite sales conversations into a single dashboard, helping companies learn what works, and multiply successes across their sales teams. Chorus describes itself as the Waze for sales conversations. Boosted with Natural Language Processing and AI, it helps sales teams learn what to say and what to avoid to route them more quickly to a closed deal.

We are on the cusp of an exciting -- and unchartered -- new era in technology, where decisions and problem-solving will be aided by smart machines that will sense, learn, infer and even think on behalf of humans. Although not yet mainstream, smart machines are increasingly making appearances in the form of autonomous cars, robots and other cognitive computing systems that are able to solve problems and make decisions without human intervention. Conversational user interfaces are also on the rise, relying on smart technologies and machine learning to facilitate dialogue between people and bots. The proliferation of data and intelligent platforms has become increasingly prevalent and is beginning to shape the way businesses must transform their own organizations to become more agile and adaptive in how they go to market and engage with their customers. Smart machines can help marketers filter out mountains of noise to pinpoint that single piece of insight needed to make a more informed decision.

The major-party presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have spent decades in the public eye as key figures of American culture. Their portraits have covered magazines, newspapers and websites for decades. The major-party presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have spent decades in the public eye as key figures of American culture. Their portraits have covered magazines, newspapers and websites. Photos: A visual history of virtual reality headsets (it ain't always pretty) p In these heady days of tech innovation it's easy to lose track of what's … A centuries-old Yemeni city stands alongside the gleaming towers of Hong Kong as one of the world's most beautiful architectural views, writes Jonathan Glancey.

Biren Gandhi sees Cisco as the torchbearer of drone digital disruption. The flying machines have become mainstream tools for everything from delivery services to video usage. So how can the networking giant--normally known for Internet services, solutions, software and hardware--compete in the unmanned aviation realm? As the world narrows in on artificial intelligence, machines and virtual reality, Cisco too pushes to participate in innovative technology-- and Gandhi is at the helm of this innovation, along with his Cisco "co-conspirators" Nico Darrow and Angelo Fienga. Known as "Cisco's Drone Specialist" but more formally titled Distinguished Strategist, Gandhi speaks at conferences like InterDrone, XPONENTIAL, The Commercial UAV Show, etc. about how the company is moving forward with drone security, collaboration, and infrastructure.

Compared to Silicon Valley giants like Facebook and Google, Apple's AI research projects have been largely inscrutable. But now, that looks like it's about to change. Apple has hired esteemed Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Russ Salakhutdinov as its director of artificial intelligence research, with plans to build a team of researchers for the company in the coming months. Salakhutdinov will remain in his post as an associate professor at CMU, Apple confirmed to BuzzFeed News. Excited about joining Apple as a director of AI research in addition to my work at CMU. Apply to work with my team https://t.co/U2hQl2GdhA

The European Space Agency (Esa) is getting ready to put a probe on Mars. Its Schiaparelli robot will attempt the risky descent to the surface in the coming hours, after a 500 million km journey from Earth. The touchdown is regarded as a dress rehearsal for a much more important venture in four years' time when Esa will bid to place a very expensive rover on the planet. This six-wheeled vehicle will drill beneath the surface to search for life. Getting the smaller Schiaparelli robot down ought to be the simpler affair.