Euronews Subsequent breaks down a number of the tech showcased this yr to seek out out what developments or faults 2024 will likely be remembered for.
From synthetic intelligence (AI) on the Olympics to a number of the first check flights (and falters) of air taxi corporations, 2024 was a memorable yr in tech.
Euronews Subsequent had a entrance row seat to cutting-edge innovation in all these fields at a number of the largest tech occasions this yr.
We break down a number of the better of the brand new tech we’ve seen this yr.
An enormous yr for tech in sports activities
The 2024 Paris Olympic Video games featured new technological improvements like AI on and off the sphere.
From an AI chatbot that protected athletes from cybercrime to an AI-generated 360-degree replay of an athlete’s efficiency, and an AI-assisted platform to watch vitality consumption, the Paris Video games rolled out new applied sciences in full drive.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) even launched a know-how to find out future Olympians: a sales space that analyses a person’s strengths and weaknesses to see how effectively the participant does in 12 sports activities, resembling soccer, operating, and desk tennis.
New applied sciences have been additionally used behind the scenes on the Video games, together with the controversial use of Cityvision, an AI software program program that detected deserted objects and crowd actions from surveillancefootage.
Brian Gumbel, president of AI event-monitoring firm Dataminr, wrote in an opinion piece for Forbes that the technological developments made in risk detection and sport in the course of the Paris Video games “will function a blueprint for future international occasions,” just like the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and the 2028 Summer time Olympics in Los Angeles.
AI makes inroads in automobiles
Outdoors of the Olympic Video games, AI was built-in into every kind of client tech this yr.
Euronews Subsequent was on website for the Shopper Electronics Present (CES) in January when Volkswagen introduced two of its automobiles, the ID.7 electrical sedan and Golf GTI would use ChatGPT as a part of its onboard voice assistant.
In Volkswagen’s mannequin, drivers can ask the automobile to show the air con on, ask it tips on how to entertain loud youngsters within the backseat or discover the very best place for butter rooster after a day at work.
Different corporations like Germany’s Audi and Mercedes-Benz, France’s Peugeot, and the Czech Republic’s Skoda have additionally added ChatGPT voice assistant to their automobiles.
All year long, we noticed extra modern ways in which AI was being constructed into the driving expertise.
Chinese language producers took over the Paris Motor Present with a number of the first makes use of of AI behind the wheel. Probably the most thrilling for automobile fans was the P7+ from XPeng, which they describe because the world’s first “AI-defined” automobile that learns from drivers’ preferences on the highway and can make autonomous choices to turn into a cell butler.
One other mannequin was Stellantis’ Leapmotor B10, a crossover SUV that makes use of inside software program that can have “superior driver help,” a digital cockpit, and clever driving.
The flight and falter of air taxis
2024 was purported to be the yr of the air taxi, however the fashions seen by our staff at Euronews Subsequent didn’t find yourself retreating like promised.
One firm, Germany’s Volocopter, mentioned at Vivatech in Paris that it began check flights on its electrical flying taxi forward of the 2024 Paris Olympics. If all went to plan, Volocopter would have launched its two-seater electrical plane, the VoloCity, to hold passengers round in the course of the Video games.
As a substitute, the corporate failed to borrow €100 million from the German authorities to get their taxis completely off the bottom, which may imply the manufacturing may transfer to China, in accordance with the BBC.
Within the meantime, different air taxi corporations showcased their tech at completely different reveals, like Hyundai’s four-passenger battery-powered automobile at CES or Joby’s air taxi, which was exhibited for the primary time on the Farnborough Air Present in London.
Joby’s craft is the closest to taking off in Europe now with the autumn by of Volocopter, as a result of the UK gave the corporate its license earlier this yr and will begin industrial operations someday in 2025.
One other robotaxi that made a splash this yr was Tesla’s Cybercab, unveiled at an occasion in California in October. The mannequin has no steering wheels or pedals, and can as an alternative depend on cameras and AI for navigation.
The cab ought to value lower than $30,000 (€27,000) when it hits the market in 2026.
Smartphones and good glasses
2024 was additionally the yr that customers noticed some modern takes on the smartphones and good glasses of the longer term.
Meta made a splash at its annual Join convention this yr with the launch of the Orion augmented actuality glasses that may undertaking digital representations of individuals and communications in the true world.
The glasses let customers ship a sign out of your mind to the system utilizing a so-called “wrist-based neural interface” that interprets nerve alerts into digital instructions.
The social media big additionally up to date its Ray-Ban sun shades with extra AI options, like reminders and reside translation.
However it wasn’t all clean crusing for Meta’s glasses. The corporate confronted some backlash after two Harvard college students discovered a approach to rig their Ray-Ban glasses to do facial recognition in public settings.
Our staff noticed new “bendable smartphones” at Cellular World Congress in Barcelona.
Motorola and Lenovo’s telephones can bend across the wrist or stand unsupported so customers can “keep related whereas on the go,” a press launch from the corporate says.
The telephone screens of the longer term are harder, too, like Samsung’s foldable OLED shows on its telephones at CES.
These shows can climate every part from excessive temperatures at -20 to 60 levels Celsius, to basketballs bouncing on its panels and might face up to “army requirements,” Samsung mentioned.
Euronews Subsequent additionally noticed Skyphone, a hardy satellite tv for pc telephone that may survive underneath a metre of water for 10 minutes. It’s additionally one which retains you related at sea, within the desert, or the mountains, as a result of it doesn’t depend on terrestrial networks for sign.
