An autonomous vehicle is parked for its test drive in Singapore Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016. The world's first self-driving taxis, operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup, will be picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday, Aug. 25. The service will start small - six cars now, growing to a dozen by the end of the year. The ultimate goal, say nuTonomy officials, is to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018, which will help sharply cut the number of cars on Singapore's congested roads.

Top auto-parts suppliers Delphi Automotive DLPH 1.16 % PLC and Mobileye MBLY -3.60 % NV are joining forces to develop a fully autonomous driving system that car makers could begin placing in their vehicles beginning in 2019. The two hope the development partnership will produce off-the-shelf systems for everything from small cars to sport utilities and pickup trucks--and help them carve out a central role in the race to supply technology for driverless vehicles. The tie-up, which was disclosed on Tuesday, comes as big auto makers and tech companies are moving independently on autonomous-vehicle developments. Delphi, a former General Motors Co. GM -0.38 % spinoff, and Mobileye, of Jerusalem, now supply auto makers with the sensors and software that are the building blocks of autonomous-vehicle development programs. Shares of both have struggled recently as car sales plateau and customers put pieces in place to eventually develop their own gear.

The acquisition this month by ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing Technology of Uber Technologies' China operation was a reminder of how strong Chinese tech companies have become domestically at outmaneuvering foreign rivals.

Jefferson Graham weighs in on the five years of the Tim Cook era at Apple, and how they compare to the previous 5 under the late Steve Jobs on #TalkingTech. LOS ANGELES -- It's been five years since Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO from a gravely ill Steve Jobs. His report card is a contradiction of Apple's still-impressive financial strength with signs innovation has slowed. Since Cook was named CEO on Aug. 24, 2011, Apple's stock price and revenue have doubled. Its net income has surged 84%.

China has revealed the first pictures of the rover it is going to send to mars in 2020. The newly-unveiled little robot will explore the planet for three months, according to state media, and it is the latest part of China's ambitious and expensive space programme. China became the third country to put a man in space, after the US and Russia, in 2003. Since then it has been aiming at other achievements in its space programme. From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater.

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

A rocky planet that might have aliens on it has been found, close enough that we could travel there. The new world is just slightly bigger than Earth and sits about four light years away, orbiting Proxima Centauri. That star is the nearest one to our solar system. As such, it is the most easily studied and understood of any "second Earth" that has ever been found. And it appears to be almost perfectly set up to serve as a home for alien life.

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

Since I was a young girl studying computer science and engineering in India, I've always been interested in exploring how science and technology can help solve real-world problems. In my IBM Research career that spans 20 years and counting, I've indulged my passion for problem-solving by building technologies that help businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes overcome their challenges. I try to instill this fascination for problem-solving in my 10-year-old daughter, who recently attended a robotics summer camp. When she came home frustrated from the camp one day, she asked me, "Why should I care about artificial intelligence? What does A.I. have to do with me?"

Three years earlier, Apple had been the first major tech company to integrate a smart assistant into its operating system. Siri was the company's adaptation of a standalone app it had purchased, along with the team that created it, in 2010. Initial reviews were ecstatic, but over the next few months and years, users became impatient with its shortcomings. All too often, it erroneously interpreted commands. So Apple moved Siri voice recognition to a neural-net based system for US users on that late July day (it went worldwide on August 15, 2014.)