Uber has made a major step towards making its self driving cars commonplace with a new deal with Germany's Daimler AG, maker of the luxury Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks. In the coming years, Daimler plans to incorporate its own self-driving Mercedes-Benz into Uber's growing fleet of self-driving cars. Daimler is the first auto company to join Uber as it opens up its platform for manufacturers to introduce their own self-driving cars - and Uber will not own or manage the Daimler cars, and won't help with R&D, simply letting the cars become part of its fleet. Daimler is the first auto company to join Uber as it opens up its platform for manufacturers to introduce their own self-driving cars. 'Under the terms of the cooperation, Daimler plans to introduce self-driving vehicles... on Uber's global ridesharing network in the coming years,' the companies said in a joint statement.

Daimler, the maker of luxury Mercedes-Benz autos and commercial trucks, will supply self-driving vehicles for use on Uber's network as the ride-hailing company works to open its platform to automakers. The arrangement calls for vehicles equipped with autonomous drive technology developed in-house by Daimler to go into service for Uber "in the coming years," the company's said in a joint statement on Tuesday. Uber began testing self-driving cars last year in Pittsburgh, modified Ford Fusion sedans and Volvo XC90 SUVs, equipped with its own system. It briefly expanded the test service to San Francisco before a dispute with California's Department of Transportation led to it pull the plug and ship its test fleet to Arizona. "Auto manufacturers like Daimler are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars--and in fact, making cars is really hard," Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO said in a blog post. "That's why instead of building them ourselves, we want to partner with the best auto manufacturers in the world."

In the hope of creating a'human-AI' cyborgs, Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla may be working on computers that can be implanted into people's brains. The astonishing revelation came in response to a tweet, asking Musk if he was working on'neural lace' – a way of installing computers into the human brain. It is not known what the brain chip could be used for, but Musk has previously said that it will be the'thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines.' Musk remained elusive in response, saying: 'Maybe next month.' This isn't the first time that Musk has hinted that Tesla may be working on artificial intelligence.

Perhaps you should think twice next time you check your Facebook at work. A new type of artificially intelligent (AI) software could mean your boss could track your every move with the help of an algorithm. The software is currently being offered by London start-up called StatusToday which builds artificial intelligence that attempts to understand human behaviour. The programme relies on a large amount of information about employees, including websites you look at and how often you're looking at them (stock image) London start-up, StatusToday, has created AI software that will allow your boss to spy on you. It works by tracking your activities.

Technology has long since advanced to the point where it can make decisions better than people can, and yet grocery managers are still happy to use their own experience to drive decision-making, sacrificing speed, efficiency and savings. By optimising key strategic areas of pricing and replenishment, and automating decisions using machine learning, retailers can combine the speed of their decisions with their KPIs (margins, volumes, mark downs). Yet still retailers are not currently marrying the two in a responsive and effective way. As part of Blue Yonder's recent survey of 750 grocery retailers across the globe, we asked some probing questions about decision making and customer service. The research revealed that grocery retailers believe robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence will be some of the key game changers for the industry.

With technologies like Alexa from Amazon, Home from Google, and Siri from Apple it's clear that human conversation is becoming a genuine alternative to traditional user interfaces. Throughout the year, I started building a deeper Chatbot example using Watson Conversation, and working with Stefania Kaczmarczyk. This is the first of a series of posts that looks at Watson Conversation holistically in the context of the software design and engineering of a Chatbot example. In this first post I'll introduce the concept with a short video clip, and review how we built the dialog using Watson Conversation. Most of all I wanted to experiment with a Chatbot that worked with personal data, accessed from a database.

The scheme debuted last year with eight companies, but this year's event (of which TTG is media partner) is set to feature 15 contenders – of which five will be shortlisted to compete for a chance to win the 2017 Travel Technology Disrupt Award, as well as a coveted free stand at next year's show. "We're excited to give double the amount of support to start-ups through Launchpad in 2017," said Sam Cande, group commercial director, Business Travel Show – which takes places over the same dates on the ground floor of London's Olympia on February 22-23. "The show has a history of introducing buyers to innovation, so it means a lot that, by supporting these start-ups, we're truly helping them excel and drive the industry forward." Attendees can experience the rise of the robots, but not the demise of the human race (not just yet, anyway) from 12.30-1.10pm As well as nurturing the travel technology companies of tomorrow, TTE will be playing host to a range of exhibitors, as well as debates, keynotes and seminars.

Britain could soon become a hotbed for driverless car testing, according to UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. New laws set to be rolled out next month will rule who is to blame if an autonomous vehicle crashes. It is hoped that the move will allow the UK to become a'world leader' in driverless cars and allow it to get an early share of the lucrative market. New laws set to come in next month will rule who is to blame if an autonomous vehicle crashes. This is where the issue often occurs, as the rules aren't clear as to who is responsible if a crash occurs.

When I was a kid dreaming of being a game developer, I hoped that in the future I'd be joining a large studio and working on a blockbuster title. Things didn't quite pan out that way. After leaving university with a fellow student, I am now the co-founder of my own company, Vlambeer, renowned for successful game releases such as Nuclear Throne and Ridiculous Fishing. I was born in the Netherlands, the son of an Egyptian immigrant and a Dutch mother, and was raised as a proud Muslim. For the past years, much of my travel to the United States has led to secondary selection, investigation, or interrogation.

The new book, Power Play: How Video Games Can Save The World, by Asi Burak and Laura Parker, was just released. Asi is well known in the game world as the creator of PeaceMaker and the former executive director of Games For Change. For quite a while now, he has been the go-to source for understanding the social impact gaming movement. But what really struck me is how clearly the book expresses the possibilities that still lie ahead for digital play. When I finished reading it, I was clearly reminded that the video game industry is still in it's infancy.