VentureBeat: ‘Autonomous Tech’ Will Surge In 2016 — Keep An Eye On These 8 Players

VentureBeat: ‘Autonomous Tech’ Will Surge In 2016 — Keep An Eye On These 8 Players

‘Autonomous Tech’ Will Surge In 2016 — Keep An Eye On These 8 Players

VentureBeat – December 12, 2015

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We’re about to see a surge in “autonomous devices” — devices that are aware of their environment, their state, and incoming data and that have the ability to learn and make decisions on their own.

By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Objects you’ve never even considered will become smart devices – dog collars, coffee makers, windows. That’s billions of devices and trillions of sensors, too many to manage through human manipulation or the stimulus-response commands of the past. It will become a practical necessity for devices to operate autonomously, and all the signs point to 2016 being the tipping point for the emergence of the Age of Autonomy.

I’ve been watching this space since 1994, when I first focused my attention on artificial intelligence, and the companies behind autonomous technology aren’t necessarily the big names you’re familiar with…

 

6. Edge3 Technologies

Edge3 Technologies out of Tempe, Arizona, is a vision-analytics company that develops software for the future of self-driving vehicles. The technology monitors, tracks, and maps the behavior of drivers and their passengers to verify identity, levels of awareness, and heart rate, among other variables. These factors will enable semi-autonomous driving to occur, while ensuring car operators are attentive and capable of decision making necessary to operate self-driving cars. No special hardware is required. In fact, according to Edge3, technology as simple as 2D cameras will have the ability to apply its technology. Edge3’s potential goes beyond self-driving cars and into robot control and object dimensioning. It is this reach and application beyond vehicles that can bring sophisticated autonomous action to the broader device world.