Automakers are imagining a world where nobody dies in car accidents and they say it is closer than most people think.

While they maintain that the real solution to a crash-free world lies in self-driving cars, a host of high-tech safety features are making drivers safer -- and better -- in the meantime.

Google on Tuesday said that while its self-driving cars have safely driven more than a million miles, there have been times when humans have had to take over to avoid crashing.  

System "anomalies" caused drivers to take the wheel 272 times in California test cars in the 14 months leading up to December, Google said in a report to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

An open letter posted on Monday by Internet freedom advocates called on governments to back tough encryption of digital data to keep people's information private.

The letter quickly gathered nearly 200 online signatures, including renowned computer security specialist Bruce Schneier and groups such as the Internet Association and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, after it was posted at the website securetheinternet.org.

Britain's proposed new Internet spying laws could threaten key rights if passed unchanged, U.N. rights experts said Monday, calling for a "comprehensive review" of the draft legislation. 

The proposed measures, which were unveiled in November, would allow security agencies to access the Internet communication records of suspects and require web and phone companies to keep records of all activity for 12 months, among other measures. 

The Twitter account of the leader of Britain's main opposition party appeared to have been hacked Sunday, judging by bizarre tweets including one calling Prime Minister David Cameron a "pie".

The out-of-character messages appeared on Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's Twitter feed late on Sunday, but were soon erased.

Google and Lenovo said Thursday they would team up to produce the first smartphone using three-dimensional mapping developed for the U.S. tech giant's "Project Tango."

The partnership announced on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will produce the first consumer device using the technology -- which aims for a new generation of smart devices that can be used for indoor mapping, augmented reality and more.

A battle for the title of best new television opened Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, with titans fielding new slim, smart, ultra high-definition models.

LG Electronics fired an opening salvo with a new OLED television no thicker than four stacked credit cards.

Fitbit on Tuesday unveiled its "smart fitness watch," aiming to get into the growing smartwatch segment with upgraded fitness tracking features.

But the company's share price plunged amid disappointment over its prospects for keeping pace with rivals like Apple Watch.

Twitter's 140 character limit on tweets has long frustrated and challenged its most verbose users.

Now the company could offer a solution, according to tech news website re/code: the 10,000 character tweet, which could be available as soon as March.

Global app usage soared in 2015 as a growing base of smartphone users found new ways to use their devices, a study showed Tuesday.

The survey by Yahoo-owned analytics firm Flurry found app usage on mobile devices jumped 58 percent last year, cooling slightly from 76 percent growth in 2014.