The new decade is on the horizon, which will bring us a lot of changes, most of them connected to technology and the way we live our lives. Economic development, public transportation, waste disposal, and neighborhood safety will soon become more dependent on green solutions, therefore, smart cities will be more and more prominent in the future, even though there are a few cities that are already starting to implement smart city technology such as Singapore, Amsterdam, Southampton, Milton Keynes and various cities in India. But, in the upcoming years, we’re expected to see more and more places all over the world embrace smart technology, so here are some of the most prominent trends that we will see in 2020.
Electrification will become more developed and widespread
It is known that buildings are responsible for the majority of city emissions and since climate change is becoming more threatening, it’s only logical that more cities will start banning natural gas infrastructures from a big number of residential buildings. San Jose in California is the first city to follow suit, so from this year, there will be more parking spaces for electric vehicles and supply chain equipment spaces. Other cities that will try to improve their energy efficiency are Chicago, Berkeley, and Boston. Since fossil fuel use has terrible consequences on the environment, there will be many initiatives to switch to electrification to keep heating and hot water available on a wide scale.
5G will finally arrive this year and is here to stay
Many telecom companies such as Nokia, Verizon, and Ericsson will offer 5G, because this year, both our internet connection and our devices will be faster and more reliable. Also, Android will make a handset that will use 5G as well, and due to faster speed, smart cities will definitely use this technology to improve transportation, manufacturing and smart processing. This means that everything, from our phones to human’s daily life will be improved thanks to 5G. Faster internet and better connection between devices will improve the way people work, drive, shop and interact, so it’s left to see what else is in store when it comes to 5G technology.
The smart street lights will improve a lot of things
For those who thought that street lights can’t get better, here is some great news: smart cities will definitely work to improve their public street lighting system, which will improve traffic conditions and the environment. Thanks to good street LED lamps, traffic monitoring, and electric charging, there will be less energy waste and fewer accidents, mainly due to surveillance cameras and digital signage that will warn drivers about potential traffic backups. Additionally, smart lampposts will be able to notice suspicious behavior and recognize license plates. Hopefully, this will lead to lower crime rates especially in large urban areas that have a lot of street crime activity.
AI will become more conversational
Some companies, one of them being Microsoft, are working to develop AI so it will hear better, which will improve voice to the text message. The main objective is to follow complex conversations, including the complexities of emotion. The reason for this is those silicone components and chipsets that were specially made for smart gadgets have become extraordinary at isolating the human voice, which is useful when there is a lot of background noise present. So, this year, we’re expecting to see better communication between gadgets and humans, mainly when it comes to processing language and breaking it down via text.
Connected vehicles and drones will be gaining traction
Tesla has started developing great improvements regarding connected and autonomous vehicles, but that’s only the beginning because, in the future, more automobile manufacturers will start collaborating with tech companies in order to boost the performance of smart vehicles. Companies like Ford, BMW and Volvo are partnering with Uber to create an autonomous fleet, while Amazon will start delivering orders by autonomous drones. This will improve the speed of deliveries and reduce the number of traffic accidents.
Conclusion
This year, we will see many exciting developments and merging of tech and transportation to create environmentally conscious solutions for smart cities. All of this will be useful for all of humanity because going forward will help cities develop, which will further improve the way people live and work. Currently, a huge number of these innovations will be limited to North America and other developed regions, but if everything turns out fine, soon these technologies will become available everywhere else, too.
