2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year for emerging technologies. As the pace of innovation keeps accelerating, new breakthroughs that once seemed far off are becoming reality sooner than expected. Here are some of the key technological shifts to track in 2024.
Quantum Computing Moves
Towards Practicality While widespread quantum computing may still be years away, expect to see meaningful milestones in 2024. Leaders like Quantinuum and IonQ aim to unveil quantum computers able to solve useful business problems that would take traditional supercomputers longer or prove too complex. The applications span from drug discovery, predictive analytics through to developing revolutionary new materials.
Leaders like Quantinuum and IonQ aim to unveil quantum computers able to solve useful business problems that would take traditional supercomputers longer or prove too complex
More Robust Conversational AI
Chatbots have existed for years but advances in natural language processing will soon make interactions feel nearly human. Emotional intelligence, personalization, complex reasoning, common sense capabilities and higher-quality voice synthesis are some of the improvements coming to virtual assistants in 2024. These enhancements open new possibilities for support agents, product demos and entertainment.
Mainstream Adoption of Self-Driving Cars
While fully autonomous robotaxis at scale are still further off, next year may be when personal self-driving cars first go mainstream. Mercedes, BMW and Tesla are on track to introduce production vehicles able to drive themselves under certain conditions like highways or parking lots. Establishing trust with drivers and navigating corner cases remain challenges though for unleashing full autonomy.
Space Tourism Takes Off
Multiple space tourism providers including Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX have ambitious mission timelines that target 2024 for launching suborbital flights for private paying customers along with research payloads. While short flights providing a few minutes of weightlessness will come first, these capabilities represent early steps towards expanding space access.
Faster 5G Connectivity Speeds
As 5G wireless networks keep blanketing more areas, expect significantly faster rollout through 2024. Peak theoretical download speeds of 10Gbps will become more common versus 1Gbps peaks now as carriers adopt advanced features in updated standards. Apart from faster streaming and downloads, 5G’s low latency and reliability opens possibilities for remote medicine, cloud gaming and metaverse applications.
Which technological breakthrough are you most excited or hopeful for in 2024? Let me know in the comments!