Following a AU 1.2 million investment, the Victorian government, in conjunction with the Transport Accident Commission and VicRoads, has partnered with automotive parts giant Bosch for the development of the first self-driving vehicle in Australia. According to Victorian Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan, the vehicle under construction in Clayton, Victoria, has been designed to navigate roads with or without driver input and includes the ability to detect and avoid hazards such as pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles. "By removing human error from the equation, self-driving vehicles will play a critical role in reducing deaths and serious injuries on Victorian roads," Donnellan said. "This self-driving car is at the forefront of automated vehicle technology and it's been developed right here in Melbourne by local engineers." The minister said trials of the self-driving vehicle will be used to inform the development of regulations and infrastructure to enable similar cars to operate on the state's roads in the future.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has signed on for a pair of Nvidia DGX-1 3U boxes to serve as a platform for applying machine learning to its science. Angus Macoustra, acting deputy CIO and executive manager for Scientific Computing at CSIRO, said the boxes would be used for medical image analysis, nano-material modelling, genome analysis, astronomy, and space science. In the realm of space science, Macoustra said machine learning can help with hunting for the signature of pulsars. "Two thirds of all known pulsars discovered in the world have actually been observed on the Parkes radio telescope, and CSIRO holds close to 40 years of data collected from that instrument," Macoustra said during the GTCx Australia conference on Tuesday. "Machine learning gives us mechanisms to interrogate that data and it is the belief of our scientists that there are still a number of unknown pulsars locked up in these data sets that span the past 40 years."

Personal data from more than 1.5 million users of a dating site network that encourages its members to "have a fling" and "have an affair" has been found online. The database, run by C&Z Tech Limited, a New Zealand-based dating company that runs a number of websites and mobile apps, like HaveAFling.mobi, HaveAnAffair.mobi, For years, thousands were tricked into buying low-quality ebooks. That data includes usernames and email addresses, passwords (stored in plain text), gender, dates of birth, profile photos, the country of residence. And other personal information like body type, height and weight (if a user chooses to enter it), desires, interests, race, turn-ons, the type of person a user is seeking to interact with, and whether the user smokes and drinks.

Telstra has announced completing a successful trial of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology over its 4G network, conducted in South Australia in partnership with Cohda Wireless. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology will allow vehicles to communicate with traffic lights, other vehicles, and pedestrians in future, according to Telstra, as well as the development of safe autonomous vehicles. "While there has been a lot of focus around future transport technology, there has not been much work done to date in Australia on supporting intelligent transport systems via existing 4G mobile networks," Telstra's director of Technology Andrew Scott said. "The trial we just completed in South Australia confirms that 4G can support V2I applications. These applications included alerting a driver to roadworks ahead, giving green light priority to high-priority vehicles, and testing optimal green light timing, where the vehicle is informed of the optimal speed to approach a traffic light so that that they get a green light when they arrive, therefore allowing a more continuous flow of traffic."

As Australians increasingly convert to lower emissions energy systems, major energy retailer EnergyAustralia is looking to offer smarter energy solutions to its 2.5 million customers by making a AU 9.3 million strategic investment in Brisbane-based solar energy startup Redback Technologies. The funding will help Redback accelerate the development of a new technology that will allow Australians to have greater control over their energy consumption, save costs, and contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. Philip Livingston, founder and managing director of Redback Technologies, said the partnership with EnergyAustralia also accelerates the company's strategic plan of "leading the disruptive change required for mass adoption of renewables." "Today marks a new day for the clean energy sector in Australia, and we at Redback could not be happier," Livingston added. Globally, Australia has the highest proportion of households -- 16.5 percent or 1.5 million -- equipped with solar panels.

With the rise of drones and steadily increasing density of air-traffic, fears of collisions between both manned and unmanned craft have become far more urgent in recent years. But according to researchers, autopilot systems could learn a trick or two from nature to become much safer. In a new study, researchers in Australia investigated the ways in which pairs of budgerigars avoid collisions when flying head-on, revealing the birds always veer right to prevent a crash. In a new study, researchers in Australia investigated the ways in which pairs of budgerigars avoid collisions when flying head-on, revealing the birds always veer right to prevent a crash. In the study, the researchers observed 102 flights of 10 male budgies - but not one collision occurred.

During keyhole surgery, surgeons typically rely on sight as they remotely control the delicate operation. A new robot promises to give them one important extra sense: touch. The invention, revealed Wednesday at the Australasian Simulation Congress in Melbourne, Australia, is called the HeroSurg. Created by a team at Australia's Deakin University, as well as Harvard University, the robot may look a little terrifying but its inventors hope it will make operations safer and more accurate. Unlike most current keyhole surgery tools, the robot uses haptic feedback to deliver a sense of touch to the operator, as well as 3D images so the surgeon can see where their instruments are placed.

Machine Learning, driven by the rise of big data and evolving technologies, is emerging as a powerful quantitative investment tool, with financial advisers increasingly recognising the benefits it can bring to investors, according to Man AHL. A recent survey of financial advisers, who attended a series of adviser events held by Man AHL across Australia earlier this month, found that nearly three quarters of advisers (74%) believe Machine Learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, has the potential to change the way we invest in the future. Speaking at the adviser events, Man AHL's Oxford-based Chief Scientist Dr. Anthony Ledford said that Machine Learning has become increasingly important to the alternative investment management industry as it deals with larger and more complex data-sets. "The rise of Machine Learning in quantitative investing is powered by three separate revolutions: the growth in computing power, the explosion of data generation and the maturing of methodologies from statistics, computer science, mathematics and engineering, amongst other disciplines." "As more data become available, sophisticated Machine Learning models enable new patterns to be detected that humans can't easily spot. The technology is a significant area of research focus for Man AHL and we believe our enhanced focus on Machine Learning will be strongly supportive of the evolution of our quantitative investment strategies," Dr. Ledford said.

In the fall of 2010, I traveled to New Zealand, and one of the places I visited was the small south island city of Christchurch. I was charmed by the tree-lined Avon River, the English-style cathedral in the main square, and the mountains looming in the distance. Inside the cathedral was a stack of poems with a moving message of peace. I saved one to tack on my cork board at home, where it remains to this day. Three months later I turned on the news to see the Christchurch cathedral splintered and broken, its spire crumbled to the ground.

What does it take to turn Australia into a video game? Launching Tuesday, Xbox's Forza Horizon 3 is the racing series' largest world so far and perhaps its most visually ambitious. The game puts the player in charge of the car-loving Horizon Festival, allowing them to explore the continent in more than 350 different vehicles. SEE ALSO: Riot Games addresses the many issues of'League of Legends' esports The game has previously been set in the U.S. and western Europe, but Brown told Mashable Australia was always top of the short list as a potential setting. "It has this incredibly diverse environment -- rainforest, the Outback, modern areas and coastal areas. In terms of the beautiful world we could create, it was perfect," he said.