Tag: augmented reality predictions

Some predictions are saying that by the year 2018, AR technology applications will be worth investments of $2.5 billion.

According to a recent market forecast issued by ABI Research, by the year 2018, developers will be making investments of more than $2.5 billion in augmented reality apps, particularly in the marketing and retail spaces.

The researchers said that there would already be $670 million invested in that sector by the end of this year.

ABI explained that there are four primary drivers that will be defining to the augmented reality market over the next half decade. They include the combination of the technology with cloud computing, a direction toward a decrease in marker AR that is vision based, “sensor fusion” and the Internet of Everything, and smart eyewear product advances.

They identified the primary growth driver for augmented reality as being cloud computing.

According to the ABI report, cloud computing is “becoming more crucial, as well as immediate, than what has been concluded in earlier research.” ABI senior analyst, Aapo Markkanen, said that “The cloud is a natural fit for AR developers, considering how big benefits cloud-based content libraries present for image recognition technologies.”

At the moment, the biggest SDKs (software development kids) are from Metaio, based in Germany, and from Vuforia, of Qualcomm. Last year, both of these SDKs brought in cloud recognition. Moreover, the visual browser from HP called Aurasma has always had cloud at its heart. That last option – according to Markkanen – is building a considerable amount of traction as a third party app platform.

ABI explained that augmented reality will play an important role in the enabling of the Internet of Everything, particularly in the area of big data analytics; where AR and data visualizations are brought together through the use of wearable computing devices.

ABI practice director, Dan Shey, predicted that in augmented reality will “serve as a visualization medium that will make the sensor data situational, bridged to the real world surroundings,” in an environment where there will already be a tremendous number of structures and physical objects linked by sensors. He predicts that smart eyewear will be an important part of this.

Looking into the future of AR technology shows possibilities in the automotive sector.

Though augmented reality has been making its mark in many different areas, such as in glasses, video games, publishing, and advertising, the automotive sector has been drawing a great deal of attention in terms of this cutting edge technology as it has been suggested as a convenience and safety tool.

The way that it would be applied in this industry would be to work the technology into windshields.

People have been speculating for some time now about the benefits of augmented reality windshields in vehicles. In 2004, BMW recognized the benefit of placing driving related information right in the line of sight of the driver by introducing the first color Head-Up Display (HUD). That same automotive manufacturer started work in 2011 on HUD acquiring a functionality that is “Contact Analogue”, which would allow a virtual marking to be superimposed over various real world objects in the view of the driver. This opens up the potential for displaying safety and navigation information right on the “screen” of the windshield.

It is precisely this type of feature that could be provided through a windshield with augmented reality.

An augmented reality windshield provides warnings of potential hazards, driving directions, and other relevant information in a way that the driver would never have to take his or her eyes off the road in order to see it.

The automotive industry has been embracing high tech solutions for years and as the release of the driver-free car draws ever nearer, the technological innovations become increasingly dazzling. A feature such as an augmented reality windshield would fit right in with other offerings that are already available, such as active park assist, attention assist (a drowsiness detector for drivers), active cruise control radar, collision warning with full auto brake, active city safety, and pedestrian detection, not to mention blind spot obstacle detection and Bluetooth.

These systems, and potential augmented reality features that can offer tremendous increases in the efficiency, safety, comfort, and convenience of the driving experience and traveling by car regardless of whether it’s in the city in a familiar area, or traveling across the country on unknown adventures.