Volvo dreams up its first driverless electric car September 5, 2018 Volvo has unveiled its first electric self-driving car concept, as it races to meet its own targets of making a third of its car sales autonomous by 2025. Aside from driving around town, Volvo hopes that the 360c could replace short-haul air travel, particularly for routes where the distance travelled is around 300km (186 miles) such as [...]
Japan’s Line is raising £1bn to fund its fintech and AI expansion September 4, 2018 Japanese messaging giant Line is raising ¥148.1bn (£1bn) through a convertible bonds issue to fund its expansion into financial services and artificial intelligence (AI), primarily through its own payments technology. The firm said in a statement this morning that the majority of the raise will go towards promoting Line Pay, which is an in-app function [...]
Connected cows and smart salmon: The internet of things is taking on farming September 4, 2018 The summer heatwave has dried up any complacency that food production in the supposedly green and fertile lands of England and Wales is a relatively straightforward business. The 55,000-strong National Farmers’ Union described the months of heat as a “wake-up call” for the agricultural industry, as an emergency summit was called to address the “crippling [...]
There’s nothing artificial about AI’s influence on the financial world August 31, 2018 Research by PwC estimates that global GDP will be 14 per cent higher in 2030 as a result of artificial intelligence (AI). That’s the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion, or more than the current output of China and India combined. If this is the case, how exactly will the City’s financial services sector change [...]
Dyson plugs £200m into driverless cars UK technology campus August 30, 2018 Household appliance technology firm Dyson today released details on the second phase of its plans to redevelop an airfield in Wiltshire as a research campus for self-driving cars, which will increase its investment in the space to £200m . Dyson has already plugged £84m into the site to date. The planning application for the Hullavington [...]
Revealed: The skills that will get you jobs with the highest salaries August 28, 2018 Automation isn’t just putting lower-earning jobs at risk; it’s a threat to higher-earning roles too. While AI is putting the likes of customer service agents’ roles are under threat , the technology could replace up to half of banking jobs too, according to Barclays’ former boss Antony Jenkins. Read more: Technology could replace half of [...]
Change is coming. Are you ready to reinvent yourself and your business? August 28, 2018 You can't keep good people down. That’s the takeaway from Usain Bolt’s decision to hang up his running shoes and don his football boots with Australian club the Central Coast Mariners. He used his 32nd birthday last week to practice with the club for the first time and, in so doing, reinvents himself from an [...]
Crowdfunding goes stateside: Seedrs strikes deal with Angelist’s Republic August 28, 2018 London-based equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs has landed a strategic partnership with US site Republic, pushing its expansion stateside. The deal means UK startups will be able to run joint crowdfunding campaigns in both countries, targeting investors on either side of the Atlantic. Republic, which is the sister company to well-known individual investor site Angelist, said the relationship [...]
Brains, Chains and Autobots August 28, 2018 They’re usually talked of as completely disparate fields; but ‘Brains and Chains’, or Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies, have already started to converge – despite claims they’re philosophically incompatible. So where’s the join? Google, Amazon, Microsoft and the like have invested billions in AI over the years. Billions more are being poured into Blockchain ventures [...]
Ctrl Alt Delete: Technology could replace more than half of banking jobs, warns ex-Barclays boss August 23, 2018 Technology could replace more than 50 per cent of banking jobs, according to former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins. The boss of 10x Banking said that computers could replace customer service, middle and back office roles, and that the workforce will have to become more entrepreneurial. Read more: Aberdeen Standard Investments launches AI fund "We've [...]