The trend that actually happens is the one that isn’t hyped!
— Jim Carroll
The opportunity
Provide workers with real-time information overlays, step-by-step visual guidance for complex tasks, and immersive training experiences, thereby improving efficiency, accuracy, and safety.
From “Daily Inspiration: “The trend that actually happens is the one that isn’t hyped!”” (January 2023)
Non-immersive, in that this isn’t a headset that you wear but the hardware you glance at that provides you detailed information about the space around you - the marriage of AR and HUD (augmented reality in heads-up displays). In 2023, a greater number of organizations are going to discover this is the real VR / AR opportunity, not the crazy headset idea being pushed by Facebook, er, Meta. That will always be a fascinating but niche-oriented bit of hardware that will provide much amusement and fun but not a lot of business applications.
I first became really excited about the mainstreaming of AR - augmented reality and HUD technology - when an Air Canada pilot that I follow on social media began to post an increasing number of photos from the cockpit of the Airbus A220, which features a sophisticated heads-up display screen, much like we might see in a modern fighter jet. That indicated to me that this was a technology that was finally going mainstream because it had practical applications - augmenting your world with valuable, up-to-date information; in this case, critical flight data, updated in real-time and available at a glance.
The more I thought about it, I realized that what was really coming together was the marriage of several trends - data generated by digital twin technology, the increasing sophistication of HUD or heads-up display technology, and augmented reality concepts. These aren’t new trends - but they’ve come together at the right time to provide wonderful business opportunities. Think about it this way - we are seeing the emergence of a world of 3d visualization with data, and that has applications in building design, manufacturing, construction, healthcare … just about everywhere!
From “Daily Inspiration: “You’ll never get to the future if you never attempt the future!”” (June 2023)
Non-immersive, in that this isn’t a headset that you wear but the hardware you glance at that provides you detailed information about the space around you - the marriage of AR and HUD (augmented reality in heads-up displays). In 2023, a greater number of organizations are going to discover this is the real VR / AR opportunity, not the crazy headset idea being pushed by Facebook, er, Meta. That will always be a fascinating but niche-oriented bit of hardware that will provide much amusement and fun but not a lot of business applications.
I first became really excited about the mainstreaming of AR - augmented reality and HUD technology - when an Air Canada pilot that I follow on social media began to post an increasing number of photos from the cockpit of the Airbus A220, which features a sophisticated heads-up display screen, much like we might see in a modern fighter jet. That indicated to me that this was a technology that was finally going mainstream because it had practical applications - augmenting your world with valuable, up-to-date information; in this case, critical flight data, updated in real-time and available at a glance.
The more I thought about it, I realized that what was really coming together was the marriage of several trends - data generated by digital twin technology, the increasing sophistication of HUD or heads-up display technology, and augmented reality concepts. These aren’t new trends - but they’ve come together at the right time to provide wonderful business opportunities. Think about it this way - we are seeing the emergence of a world of 3d visualization with data, and that has applications in building design, manufacturing, construction, healthcare … just about everywhere!
From “Augmented Reality and the World of Retail…” (December 2014)
“Apple is cutting deals with all the car manufacturers to get Siri in them. By 2017 we will be driving along and you will ask Siri in the augmented reality dashboard which store has X product. She will put five stores on the map and you will pick one, which the car’s autonomous driving technology will take you to. What’s more, you will have payment technology embedded in your car so that will be your credit card too.”
It might sound like a goofy scenario, but it isn’t really. Right now, we’re seeing major cell companies working to cut deals with automotive companies to get SIM-cards into automobiles — partly to support in-vehicle WiFi, but also to support the potential for future payment transactions. And while we see a well publicized failure with augmented reality with the pullback of Google Glass technology, there’s no doubt that there are rapid advances occurring with augmented reality technology.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: “The trend that actually happens is the one that isn’t hyped!”
Daily Inspiration: “You’ll never get to the future if you never attempt the future!”
Augmented Reality and the World of Retail…