Rolls-Royce has unveiled its first driverless vehicle, a concept car that promises to help its owner announce their importance to the world. The Vision Next 100 is an autonomous vehicle aimed at "the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world". It has no steering wheel and a silk "throne" from which its occupants can watch the world go by. Rolls-Royce said the zero-emission model, codenamed 103EX, showed the company "rejects the notion of anonymous, utilitarian and bland future modes of mobility". In a statement that was short on technical specifications but packed with florid description, Rolls-Royce promised an interior made only of "the most precious and contemporary elegance". The owner will be "encircled by the most modern handcrafted fine-line Macassar wood panelling" as they gaze at a "generous" high-definition television screen.

So Watson might then suggest, "'If you save your dry cleaning and do it tomorrow, you can avoid traffic," says Greenstein. Or along similar lines, "The weather is worse tomorrow, so I'll pick you up 10 minutes early." But for all of the natural language possibilities in this Local Motors project, a car's AI might soon be able to do a lot more than converse with you and check traffic. In fact, Greenstein tells us that IBM is currently working with major automobile manufacturers in North America, Europe, and Asia, developing technologies that are anywhere from one to four years out from market. "Some [work] is voice interface, hands-free driving, simpler user experience," Greenstein says. "There are also some car companies who are talking to us about how to make maintenance and diagnostics better, so if something happens, you don't just get a red light."

A robot escaped from a science lab and caused a traffic jam in one Russian city, it's reported. Scientists at the Promobot laboratories in Perm had been teaching the machine how to move around independently, but it broke free after an engineer forgot to shut a gate, says the local edition of the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper. The robot found its way to a nearby street, covering a distance of about 50m (164ft), before its battery ran out, the daily says. An eyewitness video posted online shows a vaguely humanoid machine standing in the middle of a busy road, guarded by a traffic policeman. It is then wheeled off by a human, presumably an engineer from the company that developed the robot. Russian Channel 5 TV also showed footage of the incident, and said that the robot spent about 40 minutes at large.

Local Motors officially unveiled its self-driving shuttle Thursday and said it will begin giving free rides to the public in Maryland this summer. The electric vehicle, which seats 12, will drive slowly on public roads in National Harbor, Md., operating at speeds between 3 and 8 mph, according to Local Motors chief executive Jay Rogers. He characterized Olli as a "friendly neighborhood robot" that isn't capable of traveling on highways. "A full win for Olli, when we can hook up the victory flag and say we're done here, is when a city says no more cars on our streets," said Rogers, citing concerns about distracted drivers creating unsafe situations for pedestrians and cyclists as a motivation for creating Olli. Local Motors, which is best known for its 3-D printed vehicles, has produced two prototypes of Olli so far.

Google announced in a blog post on Thursday that it has set up a new AI research group in Europe to focus on machine learning (ML). Machine learning is a field of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Google Research, Europe -- as the group is known -- is based out of Google's office in Zurich, Switzerland, which is home to Google's largest engineering office outside the US. Google said the group, which is expected to grow to over 100 people in the coming years, will focus on three key areas: machine intelligence, natural language processing and understanding, and machine perception. Companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft are all investing heavily in these areas as they look to make their platforms and services more intelligent.

Google has made no secret of its AI ambitions, and on Thursday it announced the next step in its bold plans to realize them: a brand-new research group in Europe focused squarely on machine learning. Based in Google Research offices in Zurich, Switzerland, the new group will focus on three key areas of artificial intelligence: machine intelligence, machine perception, and natural language processing and understanding, according to a blog post by Emmanuel Mogenet, head of Google Research for Europe. It will research ways to improve machine-learning infrastructure and enable the technology for practical use, for instance. Researchers will also work closely with linguists to advance natural language understanding, Mogenet said. Zurich, meanwhile, is home to Google's largest engineering office outside the U.S. Researchers there developed the engine that powers Knowledge Graph as well as the conversation engine that powers the Google Assistant in its Allo messaging app. Google's presence in Europe hasn't been entirely smooth, however: It's facing ongoing scrutiny over antitrust concerns and tax issues.

You might offer your employees gym membership. You may provide them with fresh fruit and free coffee. No doubt you give them opportunities to learn, chances to feel challenged, work that enthuses and excites them. But sometimes, a seemingly perfect package still can't satisfy. Today, we face a global crisis; one rarely discussed, but widely felt. Approximately 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem.

Ask any soccer fan who will win the Euro 2016 championship and every one of them will have an opinion, fueled by a combination of patriotism, passion and hope. It's safe to say none of them will offer an opinion based on the results of more than 36,000 soccer matches held during the past 146 years and an analysis of 94 billion outcomes. That's what researcher Michael Feindt, a particle physicist who worked at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for six years, has done. At CERN, Feindt created an algorithm to predict collisons of particles inside the Large Hadron Collider. Now he's CEO of Blue Yonder, a startup looking to commercialize the technology in retail, logistics, manufacturing and transportation, a process he describes as finding the "the possibilities of probable futures."

Google is starting a research unit in Europe focused solely on machine learning, a major branch of artificial intelligence. The Zurich-based project, announced today (June 16), will be key to the company's ambitions, as it bets big on machine learning to power its next generation of products. These include the digital assistant inside its Allo chat app, its driverless car efforts, and enhancements to its ubiquitous search engine. The new unit, called Google Research, Europe, comes at a time when the search giant is facing serious scrutiny from European authorities. The European commission has the company in its crosshairs, as it faces two antitrust charges, over a search product and Android, which could rack up billions in fines.

Do join our debate chaired by Will Hutton, author of'How Good We Can Be', on The Future with AI: Will it be good for us? The UK has a wealth of capability in AI techniques and their application, but a future with AI raises many questions. In this 90 minute debate our panel of thought leaders chaired by Will Hutton, author of'How Good We Can Be', will address your questions. They will discuss the safeguards that might be needed to ensure a responsible and ethical approach towards the applications of AI technologies. The debate will be followed by refreshments and networking.