Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a campaign to utilise emerging technologies, including drones and artificial intelligence, to increase productivity at construction sites by 20% by 2025. According to Japanese newspaper The Japan Times, Abe announced the plan at the inaugural meeting of a think tank tasked with formulating new growth strategy policies. The panel of government officials and industry experts is expected to announce details of the construction productivity strategy before the end of 2017. The government intends to ramp up the use of drones and AI to increase the efficiency of surveys on centrally funded infrastructure projects, such as tunnels, bridges and dams. Faced with an ageing population, Japan is already leading the world in advancing the use of autonomous vehicles, with construction drones set to be used to automate groundworks for the 2020 Olympic games.

Slip on a pair of glasses connected to a computer or a smartphone, and feel like you're stepping into a virtual world. From entertainment and gaming to medical and industry uses, the question on everyone's mind is when will we stop asking have you tried it? Will virtual reality see widespread adoption, the way we've seen cellphones and computers lay claim to our collective mindshare? And are there more important questions we could be asking - questions we might not get even know to ask. The answer to both questions is yes, with an important caveat on the first: this may be the first time in history that the speed of technology will outpace the consumer drive to adopt, meaning that by the time people get really excited about VR, it will already have changed from the version early adopters are using today.

This is the terrifying moment a driver was killed when his Tesla car crashed into a parked lorry while the futuristic vehicle was reportedly in'autopilot' mode. The incident took place in China in January when Gao Yaning, 23, collided with the back of a road sweeper vehicle in the northeastern province of Hebei. It was previously thought a crash in Florida in May involving a Tesla Model S in semi-automatic mode was the first fatality in one of the company's vehicles. Another Tesla crashed in China in August after a driver mistakenly switched on the autopilot believing it to be a'self driving' mode. The footage shows the car driving along at speed along a road, seemingly without any problems, until it ploughs into the rear of the road sweeper.

Today, the Open Source Robotics Foundation announced a whole bunch of stuff, including a big pile of money from Toyota Research, what is probably an even bigger pile of money from Toyota Research, and the formation of the for-profit Open Source Robotics Corporation. That last thing might sound a little worrisome, since corporation-ness and open source-itude are often at odds, but we checked in with OSRF CEO Brian Gerkey, who explained how it's all going to work. The most straightforward bit of news is that the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is making a charitable donation of US 1 million to the Open Source Robotics Foundation to "advance the development and adoption of open source robotics software." In other words, TRI thinks that OSRF has been doing pretty good work with ROS and Gazebo over the last couple years, and they're supporting that vision financially. Since it's a donation, OSRF can use that money however it wants, meaning that it's going to benefit the development of ROS and Gazebo for everyone.

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The new fleet of self-driving cars has landed in Pittsburgh and is ready for the public via Uber X. Comma.ai SAN FRANCISCO -- Would you pay 999 to give your car self-driving chops? George Hotz is betting the answer is yes. The 26-year-old iPhone and PlayStation hacker turned entrepreneur is behind Comma.ai, a new Bay Area company that is powered largely by his brains and chutzpah, as well as 3 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz. "It is fully functional, and about on par with Tesla Autopilot."

Tesla Motors is once again facing controversy over the safety of its Autopilot technology for assisting car drivers, this time in connection with the death of the driver in a Model S crash in China. The father of the deceased filed a lawsuit in a Beijing court in July against the car dealer who sold him the car, alleging that his son had turned on the Autopilot feature before he crashed into a vehicle in January in the northeastern province of Hebei, according to reports citing Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Tesla has said it is unable to determine whether or not Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash. As a result of the damage caused by the collision, the car was physically incapable of transmitting log data to Tesla servers, wrote spokeswoman Keely Sulprizio late Wednesday. "We have tried repeatedly to work with our customer to investigate the cause of the crash, but he has not provided us with any additional information that would allow us to do so," Sulprizio added in an email.

The Times Bayer bets the farm in 66 billion Monsanto deal: An American pioneer of genetically modified seeds has struck a 66 billion takeover deal with Bayer, the German chemicals giant, in the latest round of megadeal consolidations in agricultural production. Lawyers set to pass M&A paperwork to machines: Luminance, a start-up backed by Mike Lynch, the British technology investor, is aiming to reduce the time taken on due diligence that accompanies multimillion-pound M&A deals from weeks to days or even hours using a new form of artificial intelligence. Public sector job numbers plunge to record low: Employment in the public sector has fallen to a record low as private sector jobs surge ahead despite Brexit, official figures have shown. Mortgage lending falls in wake of Brexit vote: The number of mortgages advanced for house purchases fell in the first month after Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Miner in'bribery scandal' intends to quit AIM: An Africa-focused mining company that has been caught up in a bribery scandal is planning to delist its shares.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display