The driverless taxi era has finally arrived, in parts of Arizona, at least. Two weeks after Alphabet-owned Waymo started its driverless taxi service to the public in Phoenix, other autonomous vehicle developers are following suit with test vehicles on public roads as well. Until spring this year, Waymo's self-driving vehicles were in their testing phase and were used in up to 10% of the firm's rides. The pandemic forced the company to shutter its doors and temporarily suspend on-road testing, but it is now back online and is expanding its operations. However, as is still required by law, the Waymo One taxi currently requires a human driver to be present to manage the car's autonomous operation and take control when necessary.

Einride recently revealed its revamped autonomous delivery truck, which is more aerodynamic than the previous version. To give a glimpse of the Pod in action, the Einride team put the AV through its paces on the Top Gear track in Surrey, England. It's the first time an electric heavy transport AV has set a time on the circuit. The video perhaps doesn't have the glossy production that Top Gear fans are used to, but it provides a solid look at the Pod in motion. It also shows that on straights, the Pod can travel at over 80 km/h -- that's the typical speed limit for heavy goods vehicles in the European Union.

Standard computer programming has been around for decades; what is new (ish) is the propensity for computers to teach themselves how to spot patterns and progressively improve. Arup's Tim Chapman points the way forward for people planning a career, which is likely to last at least 45 years, and through which they will encounter unfathomable change. It is very easy to become fearful when reading press report after press report about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our civilisation – all the jobs to be lost and what will become of us? First, it is worthwhile being clear about what AI actually is. Definitions can all too easily become conflated with the latest scary film – portraying robots with high intelligence and even human emotions – great films like'I Robot' and'Ex Machina' are wonderful stories and do show what may ultimately happen – but the level of technology is many decades away, if it ever happens.

You wouldn't think a 9th century Persian mathematician would be relevant to modern business. But the term algorithm stems from his name, Muhammed Al Khwarizmi (along with the Greek word arithmos), and the algorithmic business is sweeping across the business landscape with its autonomous, rules-based, lightning-fast operations--augmenting, and in some cases supplanting, human decision making. An algorithm is a step-by-step process or set of rules for calculating and solving problems. "Algorithmic business is the industrialized use of complex mathematical algorithms pivotal to driving improved business decisions or process automation for competitive differentiation," Gartner explains. The algorithmic business is based upon capturing knowledge in software, which then takes automated actions that speed business processes and perform decision making. Supply chain uses algorithms to forecast demand, optimize inventory, schedule production, and route transportation.

Teaching a computer to play video games has generally been seen as a reasonable benchmark for developing new AI techniques. In recent years, extensive research has been completed to develop reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms to play various Atari 2600 games, resulting in new applications of algorithms such as Deep Q-Learning or Policy Gradient that outperform humans. However, games from Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) are far more complicated than Atari 2600 games as many of these state-of-the-art algorithms still struggle to perform on this platform. In this paper, we present a new platform to research algorithms on SNES games and investigate NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT) as a possible approach to develop algorithms that outperform humans in SNES games.

The three men who anchored the massively successful "Top Gear" automotive TV show will bring their large personalities back to the small screen Nov. 18, when Amazon Prime debuts the new series "The Grand Tour." Starring Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, the first season will include 12 one-hour episodes, shot in exotic locations, where the three men drive, discuss and destroy various motor vehicles to comic effect. As in "Top Gear," which ended a 12-year syndicated run when the BBC declined to renew Clarkson's contract following a series of friction-causing incidents involving the outspoken former auto journalist, "The Grand Tour" features globe-trotting hi-jinks laced with boyish jibes. It will be different from "Top Gear," the men said during a visit to The Times -- but not much. "Well, it has us three hosting it," Clarkson said. "(May) is slow and lost and (Hammond) is short and I am bombastic and tall, and fat," Clarkson concluded.

The beloved trio of Top Gear presenters is long gone, but another pillar of the BBC's most popular show endures: spectacular stunts in exotic locales, with cars that drill dimples into your cheeks. That explains why even in the, let's just say mixed reviews of the new crew's first episode, no one complained about the American's star turn. In a 10-minute segment, new host Matt LeBlanc took the dirt-spitting Ariel Nomad for a run through the Moroccan desert, dodging "villains" riding motorcycles, flying drones, and doing whatever it is you do with a paramotor. The 47,000 Nomad is the off-road sibling to the bonkers Atom, so it obviously struck the Top Gear guys as something "we can have a lot of fun with," says series producer Alex Renton. He's been with the show for 11 years and got the top job for this, its 23rd season. Putting LeBlanc behind the wheel brought a dose of comedy to an already silly car and the 30-person "traveling circus" that descended on Northern Africa for three days in February.