Apple CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that the technology colossus is now focusing on the development of autonomous systems as they join the global race to develop the technology for driverless cars. In an interview with Bloomberg, Cook described the challenge of building autonomous vehicles as 'the mother of all' artificial intelligence projects.

German automotive industry giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler have agreed to work together to further enhance their development and implementation of self-driving technology and the creation of electric cars.

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye announced on January 8, 2017, that a fleet of approximately 40 autonomous BMW vehicles will be on the roads by the second half of 2017, demonstrating the significant advancements made by the three companies towards fully autonomous driving. Revealing this at a podium discussion held during a joint press conference at CES, the companies explained that the BMW 7 Series will employ cutting-edge Intel and Mobileye technologies during global trials starting in the US and Europe.

Ford Motor Company said it has formed a partnership with ride-sharing service Lyft to deploy self-driving vehicles on Lyft's network in large numbers by 2021. The two companies will work together to design software that will allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft's smartphone applications.

Jaguar Land Rover has fitted 'virtual eyes' to intelligent pods to understand how humans will trust self-driving vehicles, as research studies suggest that as many as 63% of pedestrians worry about how safe it will be to cross the road in the future

A Japanese community has introduced driverless technology as part of an initiative specifically designed to keep its elderly citizens active and 'on the move'. The rural town of Nishikata, which is located around 115KM from the capital city of Tokyo, has decided to experiment with the autonomous technology in an effort to enable its elderly population to continue participating and being active in community life.

Advocacy groups representing the elderly and the blind joined automotive and tech firms to launch an educational campaign to explain the benefits of self-driving cars.

South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics has announced that it intends to become a major player in the global race to develop autonomous driving technology. It has been claimed that Samsung will formally outline its strategy for the automotive sector at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this week.

A US House of Representatives panel has vetoed a proposal which will enable car manufacturers to deploy up to 100,000 self-driving vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards and bar states from imposing driverless car rules.