For some years now, technological trends such as digital currencies, self-driven cars, and conference booking software have become popular, but full acceptance has not been achieved yet. It may take some more years before we will see self-driven cars on our roads, but digital currencies and booking software are in use already and are showing potentials to stay around for a long time to come.
There are a lot of other trends that are fighting for the world?s attention, and a lot of research and development funds have gone into them. Most of them even have the backing of big companies and developed countries, but since not everyone knows about them, we will take a look at the top three we should look out for in 2019.
3D Metal Printing
We have seen 3D plastic and concrete printers, but not much has been heard about 3D metal printers. In 2019, there is potential for all of that to change. When you look at how much labor is used and how much waste is accumulated to produce metal parts for vehicles and machinery, the bulk of the metal ends up getting cut away. This waste would be drastically reduced by 3D metal printing. The price of metal isn?t getting any low and excessive mining of metal causes damage to the environment, and these could be driving force behind metal 3D printing becoming more popular in 2019.
Blockchain
Blockchain technology has only been seen in cryptocurrencies so far, but it can be used for other things that just digital currencies. Blockchain is considered a highly secure technology and it is being considered to be used as a data protection measure against cyber-threats.
Blockchain technology is an encrypted, robust and easily identifiable method of keeping records. It offers restricted access to information which gives the customer the power to choose who can see what information. The recent General Data Protection Regulation in Europe is a move taken to promote the use of blockchain further, as it is evident that Blockchain is the only existing platform that gives users total control on who can access their data.
Autonomous Driving
Since companies like Tesla rolled out self-driven or autonomous cars even though they require human guidance, the world has had its eyes on the possibility of full-fledged self-driven vehicles rolling out soon. 2019 is expected to be the year that this might happen. Other vehicle manufacturers like Volvo and Daimler are working on rolling out their self-driven cars in the coming year.
In some parts of the United States, self-driven trucks are already being put on the roads, and this is because of the low number of truck drivers. This will even encourage the development of the technology as soon as possible to solve this problem.