Renewable power sources such as wind now provide about one-third of Germany's electricity. The rows of towering wind turbines and legions of glistening solar panels spread across Germany's landscape are striking emblems of the country's shift to non-nuclear, low-carbon power. But although Germany is the world's poster child for renewable energy, its grids cannot yet cope with the erratic nature of wind and solar power. In June, German meteorologists, engineers and utility firms began to test whether big data and machine learning can make these power sources more grid-friendly. "To operate the grid more efficiently and keep fossil reserves at a minimum, operators need to have a better idea of how much wind and solar power to expect at any given time," says Malte Siefert, a physicist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology in Kassel, Germany, and a leader on the project, called EWeLiNE.

The future of industry is digital. GE and BI Studios have co-created Digital Industry Insider, dedicated to bringing you what you need to know about digital industrial news and events. The reality is somewhere in between. In 2016, hulking machines are still executing heavy duty tasks, but humanoid types are increasingly working alongside humans on assembly lines. Manufacturing isn't that different from everyday life-smart robots are showing up in factories just as they're invading our homes.

Nissan has a new autonomous driving system called ProPILOT, and it's coming to its first production vehicle in August. ProPILOT, a self-driving feature designed for use in single-lane highway driving situation, arrives in the Nissan Serena first, which is currently set to go on sale next month. Likely in light of recent events faced by Tesla around its own Autopilot self-driving tech, Nissan is very clearly laying out what ProPILOT is – and what it isn't. In a press release, the company notes that ProPILOT is single-lane, as mentioned (Autopilot can manage lane changes) and that it controls steering, acceleration and braking, and is designed to be used when traffic is heavy and the going is slow, or during extended commutes. Like other cruise-assist features you may have seen before, ProPILOT can automatically manage the distance between your car and any leading car, between speeds ranging from about 18mph to about 60mph.

Humans have been farming for thousands of years since the first crops were planted and animals began being domesticated during the Mesolithic era. But technology could soon be squeezing us out of our traditional roles as farmers, as robots take to the fields. A robot that is capable of herding cattle and pulling trailers through the mud has gone on trial at a farm in Australia while another capable of pick broccoli six times faster than humans is being tested in Britain. SwagBot, an Australian farming machine, can herd cattle and pull trailers through mud, is being developed at the University of Sydney. At the same time, the University of Lincoln is building and testing a robot that can pick broccoli six times faster than humans. It can identify broccoli in fields with up to 95 per cent accuracy, the researchers say.

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

Everywhere you look today, there are examples cropping up of how machine learning is revolutionising different industries. In media and entertainment, Spotify and Netflix sort through billions of data points to find patterns in music, films and television that consumers have enjoyed -- and then make suggestions based on their tastes. In retail, Amazon prompts consumers to buy everything from nappies to office chairs based on shoppers' previous purchases. In finance, machine learning is helping investors anticipate market trends and powering innovations underlying everything from self-driving cars to voice-assistant applications. In the payments industry, machine learning is similarly becoming an increasingly important tool to help businesses combat fraud.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and a world in which machines threaten humanity's status quo has been the preserve of science fiction for decades. In the Eighties, Terminator was set in a post-apocalyptic world in which cyborgs rule, RoboCop's protagonist was part-man, part-machine and Short Circuit toyed with the idea of robots developing human-like minds, with rather more endearing results. The reality is the bot has bolted. AI is walking and talking among us. In 2016, we use voice-recognition systems, driverless cars are being trialled and robotic hotel receptionists work in Japan.

There is a need for a new global platform to monitor, consider, and make recommendations about the implications of emerging technologies in general, and AI more specifically, for international security. The doomsday scenarios spun around this theme are so outlandish – like The Matrix, in which human-created artificial intelligence plugs humans into a simulated reality to harvest energy from their bodies – it's difficult to visualize them as serious threats. Meanwhile, artificially intelligent systems continue to develop apace. Self-driving cars are beginning to share our roads; pocket-sized devices respond to our queries and manage our schedules in real-time; algorithms beat us at Go; robots become better at getting up when they fall over. It's obvious how developing these technologies will benefit humanity. But, then – don't all the dystopian sci-fi stories start out this way?

YOKOHAMA – Nissan Motor Co. on Wednesday unveiled its new Serena model minivan featuring self-driving technology. The van, which goes on sale next month, includes some autonomous capabilities that allow it to control steering, gas and brakes on single-lane highways, regardless of traffic conditions, Nissan said. The technology is called Propilot, which monitors road conditions using a 360-degree camera. That information is analyzed by a computer, which then controls the vehicle. Nissan is the first among Japanese automakers to release a vehicle equipped with autonomous driving technology that deals with highway traffic jams, the company said.

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