European Union

The world's largest and most advanced tokamak fusion reactor has gone online as the EU/Japanese 370-tonne JT-60SA reactor was fired up for the first time during an inauguration ceremony in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

The European Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, has been deemed inadequate for continued use. Rather than demolition, it will receive a radical renovation that will add sustainability features and greenery, including a rooftop garden.

An EU court ruling demands that Facebook globally remove content an EU state deems illegal. Critics of the ruling suggest it infringes on global freedom of expression.

From July 1, any electric vehicle with four or more wheels that wants to be approved for road use in the European Union is going to have to have an "Acoustic Vehicle Alert System," or AVAS, fitted, making a continuous noise of at least 56 decibels if the car's going 20kmh or slower.

The European Parliament has voted on a resolution to regulate the development of artificial intelligence and robotics. The proposed rules include establishing ethical standards for the development of AI, and introducing an insurance scheme for accidents involving driverless cars.

On the face of it, robots should be good at picking and packing online supermarket orders. Unfortunately, most robotic manipulators can't be trusted with easily bruised fruit and vegetables. To address this, Ocado has been putting new soft robots to the test in its European warehouses.

A traffic accident in Norway, involving a Model S with Autopilot engaged, two other vehicles, and a motorcycle, has prompted questions as to whether testing of Tesla's Autopilot system sufficiently took into account two-wheeled vehicles.

The European safety organization Euro NCAP has announced the introduction of a new test to ascertain the effectiveness of pedestrian detection and autonomous braking and collision avoidance systems from different auto manufacturers.

Ever thought about how sound could be used to bring a whole new level of automation? The Ear-IT project has been monitoring acoustics in the Spanish city of Santander, and says the results could improve lives of its residents in ways ranging from improved traffic flow to energy savings in the home.

A new aircraft concept that combines features if an airship, plane, helicopter and hovercraft to give it short takeoff and landing capabilities is being developed as part of the European Commission's Extremely Short Take Off and Landing On any Surface (ESTOLAS) project.

Research funded by the European Union has resulted in a new low-cost, fingernail-sized radar chip package that could be implemented in the automotive, robotics and smartphones industries.

myCopter is an EU project that looks at taking vehicles off the road and launching them into the sky.