Tech crawl: IBM's Watson tech jumps into self-driving cars market

IBM's famed Watson artificial intelligence platform is now being deployed in a new field: self-driving vehicles.

Watson's technology is being used in a self-driving van nicknamed Olli. It is an electric-powered vehicle that can carry up to 12 people, and is designed by Arizona-based Local Motors.

Olli will be using a special version of Watson aimed at automotive applications and it is not fully powering the car's self-driving features, but rather aimed at "improving the passenger experience," according to a statement from IBM. Tech Crunch has an in-depth look at the vehicle and at Watson's role in operating it.

Despite a key court victory for the federal government, the battle over the "net neutrality" issue might not be over, writes CNet's Marguerite Reardon.

To recap: A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the government's "net neutrality" rules, preserving regulations that force internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T to treat all online traffic equally.

CNet's Reardon, however, writes that the cable and phone companies that opposed the FCC's rules aren't giving up. Their decision to keep fighting signals that the debate over net neutrality will rage on, potentially to the Supreme Court.

Beyond the product announcements and all the bells and whistles, what did Apple Inc. really tell us at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference? Columnist Walt Mossberg at The Verge writes that the tech giant clearly signaled that it still "lings to both its principles and its profit centers"