Tesla, under pressure to show it can generate profits on its main business of making electric cars, on Monday trumpeted a custom-designed computer chip to let its vehicles drive themselves. Even with the new chip -- which comes with all new vehicles and can be installed in older ones -- Teslas still aren't yet fully capable of driving without human intervention. They now have "all hardware necessary," said Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive officer. "All you have to do is improve the software." The software will be updated over the air to allow full self-driving by the end of the year, he said.

The first half of 2018 was strong for the workforce optimization (WFO) market in general, up 6.4 percent compared to the first half of 2017, and excellent for the contact center segment, which grew by 24.2 percent during this period. The two market leaders, NICE and Verint, which together accounted for 75.5 percent of the total company GAAP revenue in the WFO suite market in the first half of 2018, each experienced strong revenue growth. NICE's total company revenue increased 9.8 percent in the fiscal first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017, and Verint's revenue grew by 11.2 percent in the same period. Based on our ongoing analysis of this market, the first half of 2018 has been good overall for the majority of WFO vendors. Total company revenue for the WFO market in the first half of 2018 was $1.685 billion, up $101.7 million from $1.583 billion in the first half of 2017.

Mention McDonald's to someone today, and they're more likely to think about Big Mac than Big Data. But that could soon change: The fast-food giant has embraced machine learning, in a fittingly super-sized way. McDonald's is set to announce that it has reached an agreement to acquire Dynamic Yield, a startup based in Tel Aviv that provides retailers with algorithmically driven "decision logic" technology. When you add an item to an online shopping cart, it's the tech that nudges you about what other customers bought as well. Dynamic Yield reportedly had been recently valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars; people familiar with the details of the McDonald's offer put it at over $300 million.

China's largest search engine, with 70% of the search market, has been facing deeply negative perceptions and increased competition for advertising from the likes of Tencent's WeChat, China's all-in-one app, and newer arrivals like Bytedance, with its news and short video apps. Nevertheless, Baidu on Feb. 21 beat expectations on fourth-quarter revenues, which came in at $3.96 billion, even as it posted a 50% drop in net profit for the quarter. It recorded $14.88 billion in revenues for the year and $4 billion in net profit, and reported strong growth in users for its mobile app and voice-recognition software. Baidu's heavily reliant on ad earnings for the moment--but it's trying to change that. It has set high goals for developing artificial intelligence, from self-driving cars to personal assistants, in the hopes that it will dominate the field in China and beyond.

Darktrace helped pave the way for using artificial intelligence to combat malicious hacking and enterprise security breaches. Now a new U.K. startup founded by an ex-Darktrace executive has raised some funding to take the use of AI in cybersecurity to the next level. Senseon, which has pioneered a new model that it calls "AI triangulation" -- simultaneously applying artificial intelligence algorithms to oversee, monitor and defend an organization's network appliances, endpoints and "investigator bots" covering multiple microservices -- has raised $6.4 million in seed funding. David Atkinson -- the startup's CEO and founder who had previously been the commercial director for Darktrace and before that helped pioneer new cybersecurity techniques as an operative at the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense -- said that Senseon will use the funding to continue to expand its business both in Europe and the U.S. The deal was co-led by MMC Ventures and Mark Weatherford, who is chief cybersecurity strategist at vArmour (which itself raised money in recent weeks) and previously Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Others in the round included Amadeus Capital Partners, Crane Venture Partners and CyLon, a security startup incubator in London.

News that Gong.io has acquired $40M to add their existing funding shows they are well on their way to transforming CRM systems with the use of artificial intelligence. Gong.io is relatively new on the scene but is already making big moves in the CRM industry. Their AI-assisted Conversation Intelligence and account analytics platform removes the conjectures and unknowns to assist sales and marketing teams to formulate winning sales strategies. Founded in 2015 by Amit Bendov, CEO, and Eilon Reshef, CTO, the San Francisco and Israel based company has two very successful people at the helm. Both founders have impressive resumes with proven track records in the growing, selling, and IPOing of startups.

SAO PAULO/DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday it will close its oldest factory in Brazil and exit its heavy commercial truck business in South America, a move that could cost more than 2,700 jobs as part of a restructuring meant to end losses around the world. Ford previously said the global reorganization, to impact thousands of jobs and possible plant closures in Europe, would result in $11 billion in charges. Following that announcement, analysts and investors had expected a similar restructuring in South America. Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett said last month that investors would not have to wait long for the South American reorganization plan. The factory slated for closure is in Sao Bernardo do Campo, an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo that has operated since 1967.

Austin, Texas-based NarrativeDx, a startup that helps hospitals analyze patient comments, grievances and online reviews, has secured a strategic investment, according to a news release. NarrativeDx cofounder and CEO Kyle Robertson confirmed the investment amount is $3 million. Christiana Care Health System, the Texas Medical Center and Summation Health Ventures (a fund backed by MemorialCare Health System and Cedars-Sinai Health System) led the round. HealthX Ventures and Cultivation Capital, which took part in the startup's previous funding rounds, also participated. NarrativeDx intends to use the money to boost its sales and marketing efforts, continue innovating its product and hire new talent.

Munich-based industrial equipment usage analytics startup Corrux has raised $3.1 million in a seed funding round led by German venture capital firm Target Partners, with participation from Josef Brunner, who is the CEO of Relayr and US venture investor Sean Dalton. This seed funding has taken place to implement artificial intelligence in the arena of industrial equipment and scale up its operations. Corrux is an industrial equipment usage analytics startup, which develops simple, powerful applications that let users understand heavy machinery ranging from excavators to track laying machines. The company provides construction managers and OEMs with software to monitor on-site operations and gain insights from data. Moreover, the company's analytics layer lets construction companies and OEMs understand their heavy machinery – ranging from excavators to track laying machines.

Bengaluru based AI start-up Clootrack Software Private Limited ("Clootrack") has announced raising $500K in seed funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN), the country's largest horizontal seed stage funding platform. Led by IAN, the round also saw participation from Unicorn India Ventures (existing investor), SEA Fund and Malabar Angel Network. Anthony Thomas, Global CIO, Nissan Motors and Salliel Gupta have led the round on behalf of IAN with Anthony joining the company board. IAN investor group also includes Kris Gopalakrishnan (Co Founder, Infosys). Founded in April 2017, Clootrack is the first of its kind AI-driven data analytics platform that discovers and measures brand perceptions in real time.