Elizabeth Keatinge tells us about Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day where robotaxis were discussed. Are robot taxi's really on the horizon? Tesla's aggressive (perhaps unrealistic) goal to launch a robotaxi network in 2020 was revealed by CEO Elon Musk on Monday as the company discussed plans toward a self-driving future. Under Musk's strategy, the electric car maker will enable owners to add their autonomous driving-capable vehicles to a Tesla ride-sharing app, which he described as a combination of Uber and Airbnb. "From our standpoint, if you fast forward a year – maybe a year and three months, but next year for sure – we'll have over a million robotaxis on the road," Musk told an audience on Monday.

In Japan's time-scarce, results-oriented society, people no longer feel they can find a life partner through traditional dating methods, and are instead turning to internet matchmaking options to better their chances of meeting a compatible companion. Rather than visiting a dating agency, attending matchmaking parties or actually finding a partner the old-fashioned way through "a chance encounter," people are peering into their screens in hopes that artificial intelligence will help them find a match made in heaven. The companies are not focused on delivering a solely digital date, however, as some also host events where prospective partners can meet in person to see if the profile picture meets reality. Makoto Yamada, 30, who works in the western Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa, married Sayaka, 33, a university research fellow, in June last year after meeting through the Pairs online matching service run by Tokyo-based Eureka Inc. Both learned of the matchmaking service through social media ads and signed up without giving it a second thought.

The government will set guidelines by the end of March next year for preventing technology leaks from universities that conduct research with foreign firms, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. The move comes as the United States and China grow cautious about advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence being converted for military use. While Japan already regulates the disclosure of sensitive technologies and products by the nation's state organizations and companies to overseas firms under a foreign exchange and foreign trade law, university laboratories have been managing infrequent arrangements on their own, leading some experts to voice concerns about the risk of information leaks. The envisioned guidelines would require universities and other research institutions to set regulations on joint projects involving foreign entities. They will be based on the comprehensive innovation strategy adopted by the Cabinet in 2018 aimed at promoting university research on AI, biotechnology and other leading technologies.

Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday it has reached a deal to buy U.S. assembly robot-maker JR Automation Technologies LLC for $1.43 billion (¥160 billion) to strengthen its factory automation business in the American market. Hitachi said it agreed Tuesday to buy the manufacturer from private equity firm Crestview Partners, which holds a 93 percent stake in the company. The Japanese manufacturer will acquire all shares in the Michigan-based technology provider by the end of this year. JR Automation Technologies was founded in 1980 and has strengths in automated manufacturing and technology solutions. The company has about 2,000 employees at 23 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, it said.

A new video shows Tesla's full self-driving technology out in the wild. In the nearly two-minute clip, a Tesla can be seen stopping at intersections, driving down highways and suburban roads, navigating exit ramps and changing lanes, all without the driver ever touching the wheel. The vehicle travels at about 45 miles per hour on average throughout the clip and is even able to put itself in park when it finishes navigating the route. The video comes after Elon Musk on Monday talked up Tesla's progress in bringing fully autonomous vehicles to the masses at the company's Autonomy Day. According to Musk, every Tesla has the hardware necessary to carry out full self-driving like what is shown in the video.

A Google offshoot will pave the way for commercial drone deliveries in the U.S. after getting the green light from the FAA. The precedent, which was foreshadowed by the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Executive Director, Jay Merkle, last month, is a major step for commercial drones in the U.S. where regulators have been slow to allow widespread usage. Approval of the drones, which will be operated by a company called Wing, effectively classifies the company as a small aircraft operator -- a determination that carries a stringent set of mandatory guidelines. Wing has scored another major victory with its recent approval from the FAA in the U.S. Wing, the first commercial drone company approved by the FAA in the U.S. will start delivering in Virginia. The drones is powered entirely by electric and can fly up to 120 km/h (almost 75 mph).

Facial recognition technology is being deployed in airports, security cameras and in our phones. Now, Tokyo is using facial recognition in an unexpected way - to serve up targeted advertisements to taxi passengers as they're ferried to their destination, based on their age and gender. The unsettling practice was discovered by Google privacy engineer Rosa Golijan, who posted a photo of a tablet she encountered when hopping into a taxi in Japan. Facial recognition technology is being deployed in airports, security cameras and in our phones. Now, Japan is using the tech to serve up targeted ads to passengers in taxis.

Dreams of dishing laundry duty to an in-house robot just got a little less hopeful after the company behind the automated assistant, Laundroid, filed for bankruptcy - effectively putting its bot to bed. According to Engadget, the company Seven Dreamers, which has worked to bring Laundroid to market since 2014, still owes 200 creditors about $20 million after its bankruptcy filing in Japan on April 23. In its Consumer Electronic Show (CES) debut in 2017, Seven Dreamers offered up what they purported would be an all-in-one laundry-folding and sorting machine that was able to take laundry, fold it, and in some cases organize it by color or owner and then deliver the final product to its wielder. The days of laundry folding robots got a little less hopeful after the makers of folding and sorting assistant Laundroid filed for bankruptcy. Users were meant to load the machine with clean dry clothes while a robot arm inside folds and sorts them.

When Seven Dreamers Laboratories Inc. unveiled its prototype laundry-folding robot in 2015, it generated a buzz, with people saying they couldn't wait to buy one if it ever went to market. But the AI-based tidying device dubbed Laundroid is apparently coming to an end before its commercial debut, as the Tokyo-based developer filed for bankruptcy Tuesday with the Tokyo District Court, citing insufficient funds to continue operations. A spokesperson for Seven Dreamers, a contest-winning startup that had received over ¥10 billion in funding, said development of robot is over for now. According to Teikoku Databank Ltd., a credit research company, Seven Dreamers Laboratories had accumulated ¥2.2 billion in debt as it struggled to ship the robot and invested heavily in research and development. After postponing its initial sales goal in fiscal 2017, it had to push back its goal for fiscal 2018, too.

The U.S. Department of Defense's most advanced research and development arm is calling upon engineers and scientists to help develop robots capable of remotely repairing satellites in space. According to the The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is a part of the U.S. Department of Defense, the organization hopes to develop and launch the sophisticated space bots into orbit within the next five years. Currently, says DARPA, about 400 satellites owned by the government and private industry in the U.S. are orbiting Earth with some more than 20,000 miles away making it service and maintenance all but impossible. The U.S. Department of Defense is calling upon engineers and scientists to help develop robots capable of remotely repairing satellites in space. 'With no prospects for assistance once in orbit, satellites destined for [geosynchronous equatorial orbit] today are loaded with backup systems and as much fuel as can be accommodated, adding to their complexity, weight and cost,' reads a release from DARPA.