After all the hype, 2020 will be the year that automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology starts moving out of experimentation mode and into more serious levels of adoption, believes Forrester Research. But the picture the market research firm paints is decidedly mixed for tech leaders and buyers. Here are four of the top forecasts from Laura Koetzle, the company's vice president, group director and head of research for Europe: The robotics process automation (RPA) services market has grown over the last few years, mainly because organisations have focused on tackling simple challenges and undertaken projects focused on'low-hanging fruit'. But to move to the next stage, it will be necessary to build "automation strike teams" and centres of excellence in order to put more structure around such initiatives, believes Koetzle. She also warns that in 2020, it would be "incumbent on all tech leaders" to "develop and promote a positive vision of the future of work". In other words, it will be up to them to clarify how technology, which includes RPA and AI, can be used not so much to automate jobs out, but rather to help employees undertake their jobs more effectively.

On Tuesday, NVIDIA unveiled the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) computer designed to drive fully autonomous vehicles by mid-2018. The new system, named Pegasus, extends the NVIDIA Drive PX AI computing platform to operate vehicles with Level 5 autonomy--without steering wheels, pedals, or mirrors. Pegasus delivers more than 320 trillion operations per second, or more than 10x the performance of its predecessor, according to NVIDIA. Some 25 partners are currently developing fully autonomous taxis using the NVIDIA technology, according to a press release. These vehicles could arrive on demand to safely drive passengers to their destinations, bringing mobility to more people and allowing professionals to get work done while commuting.