Google has built its first self-driving car prototypes and hopes to test hundreds more models this summer. If all goes well, the company is planning a pilot program in California over the next few years.

Unloading a Cartopper from a UPRR work train at Port Barre Louisiana. Kinda scary to watch, but it worked like a charm.

Skoda caused a huge stir with its car made out of cake. The advert features an army of bakers creating a Fabia out of an array of tasty baked treats, while Julie Andrews sings about her favourite things in the background. The chassis is built from huge slabs of sponge cake. Its paintwork is marzipan. Golden Syrup lubricates the engine. And the roof is finished with sugar.

Coca-cola mini kiosks by ogilvy & mather Berlin promote tiny coke cans. To promote the launch of its tiny coke cans, coca-cola and advertising agency ogilvy & mather berlin deployed and installed a series of miniature kiosks throughout five different major cities in Germany.

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

A masked reveller parades through the streets on the first day of the carnival season in Lucerne, Switzerland, 12 February 2015. In the background the well known Kappellbruecke bridge. (Photo by Alexandra Wey/EPA)