A mere two months after acquiring Uber's self-driving car unit (and a $400 million investment from the company), autonomous vehicle startup Aurora is partnering with the world's largest automaker. On Tuesday, the company announced a partnership with Toyota and Japanese auto parts supplier Denso (via The Verge) that will see the three firms work together to develop and test vehicles with Aurora's Driver technology. They'll first integrate the hardware and software into a fleet of Toyota Sienna minivans before deploying it within a full-scale robotaxai service. "By the end of 2021, we expect to have designed, built and begun testing an initial fleet of these Siennas near our areas of development," the company said. "It brings our companies together to lay the groundwork for the mass-production, launch and support of these vehicles with Toyota on ride-hailing networks, including Uber's, over the next few years."

Artificial intelligence already is making strides in the development of new drugs, and now the pesticide industry wants in on the action. Switzerland's Syngenta has teamed up with Insilico Medicine to use its deep-learning tools to produce sustainable weedkillers. As well as taking on some of the early-stage work traditionally conducted in a lab, AI could design molecules used in crop-protection tools that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly, the companies said last week. AI is among new methods emerging as environmental and health concerns spur a quest for sustainable alternatives to traditional pesticides used by farmers. Demand also is being supported by regulatory pressures and lawsuits, most notably Bayer's $11 billion settlement deal over claims its long-used glyphosate herbicide causes cancer.

Toyota Motor Corp. is tapping a star Silicon Valley robotics expert to help put the final touches on an operating system it says will go up against that of Tesla Inc. Called Arene, the system allows new features to be installed in a car's existing hardware over the air and provides a platform for developers to create software. It's being developed by Toyota's new technology research arm Woven Planet Holdings Inc., led by Chief Executive Officer James Kuffner, a former Google engineer. Tesla is already a leader when it comes to over-the-air updates of a car's operating systems, which control everything from braking to Wi-Fi, locking and lights. It has been upgrading its electric vehicles' battery range and autonomous functions remotely via updates since 2012. On an earnings call last week, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said Tesla is willing to license its software capabilities to third parties and is already in talks with original equipment manufacturers.

Analytics leader SAS continues to innovate by making it easier to access its powerful, cloud-native SAS Viya platform. Recent product developments help customers more efficiently democratize analytics throughout their organizations while seamlessly managing analytic workloads and building SAS into a variety of applications. "Among analytics providers, SAS is a recognized leader for reimagining the way analytics and machine learning are consumed so users realize optimal results that solve business challenges faster with more accuracy," said Ritu Jyoti, Program Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Research at IDC. "This iteration of the SAS Viya platform gives users at all levels of an organization an agile, powerful advanced machine learning engine to help master the complex data that's in cloud environments." Recognizing that so many organizations have struggled with the global pandemic and its effects, SAS CEO and founder Jim Goodnight says SAS Viya can help in the toughest times. "SAS Viya helps organizations see their data, customers and operations in new ways that encourage confident decision making," said Goodnight.

In the US, today is Inauguration Day, and as Joe Biden prepares to take the oath as our 46th president, it's worth taking a look back at the discussions four years ago. Back then, the "most tech-savvy" president exited as all eyes turned to Donald Trump trading in his Android Twitter machine for a secure device. We know how things went after that. Donald Trump isn't tweeting anymore (at least not from his main accounts), and the country is struggling through a pandemic. The outgoing president just saw his temporary YouTube ban extended and, in one of his last official acts, pardoned Anthony Levandowski for stealing self-driving car secrets from Google's subsidiary Waymo.

Amazon is opening up its AI tech to automakers and other third-companies with a new product called Alexa Custom Assistant. It will allow brands to build their own custom intelligent assistants that "co-exist" with Alexa, according to Amazon. That will allow them to create unique wake words, voices and capabilities "to each company's unique personality and customer needs," the company wrote in a press release. Alexa Custom Assistant will let customers use both Alexa and their own branded assistant to do something called "simultaneous multi-assistant cooperation. "This allows the brand's assistant to act as the product specialist, while Alexa is still available to help with everyday needs," Amazon wrote.

Apple has shed more light on its $100 million pledge to improve racial equity. Today, the company announced that it will be making a $25 million contribution to the Propel Center, a learning hub designed for members of the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). It will include a physical campus at the Atlanta University Center, a virtual platform for remote learning and events at partner institutions' campuses. In a press release, Apple said the Propel Center will teach a variety of subjects including AI and machine learning, app development, augmented reality, creative arts and entrepreneurship. Apple employees will help design the curricula and offer mentorship opportunities, including internships.

CES has gone all-digital for the first time this year. Unsurprisingly, some companies are using the format change to experiment with their live-streamed press conferences. LG, for instance, used an entirely virtual human called Reah Keem to promote some of its products today. Sporting a hoodie with the slogan "stay punk forever," she explained that travel was an important part of her life, and how desperate she was to roam around the world and perform once again. Keep used those wishes to transition into the LG CLOi UV-C Robot, an already-announced machine that uses ultraviolet light to disinfect public and generally popular areas.

Earlier today, Sony announced plans to expand its 360 Reality Audio platform. The key updates were a two-fold approach for expanding the limited content library, licensing tech to other companies and -- most importantly -- news that it would ship its own speakers built for the immersive sound this spring. At the time, the company said it didn't have any info beyond a few vague details, but that's wasn't entirely true. Sony's UK website has already posted full details for both the SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 "premium wireless speakers." If you've been following our 360 Reality Audio coverage since 2019, you'll recognize the designs.

Waymo, a unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., is saying good-bye to'self-driving'--not the technology, just the term. In a blog post Wednesday, the company announced it would now be using the phrase'autonomous driving' to avoid confusion that could lead a driver to take their hands off the wheel at a dangerous moment. 'It may seem like a small change, but it's an important one,' the company said in a blog post, 'because precision in language matters and could save lives.' But industry insiders believe the change is a jab at Elon Musk's Tesla, which began touting its'full self-driving' (FSD) option last fall - but is only capable of assisting drivers. Waymo announced it will no longer use the term'self-driving' in favor of'autonomous driving,' to avoid confusion.