Nearly 1.3 million people die in a car accident each year. Converting this number results to almost 4000 deaths a day! The injuries run up to 20-30 million per year. These are great numbers and so there is a real problem. A problem which needs a solution. Technology experts are trying to fix this problem for decades. Up to now, it was not a success. This year it became clear that the drivers will not lessen these accidents numbers. It is up to the cars now.

In just a couple of years, the car-to-car or vehicle-to-vehicle communication will be available for different cars. This system will transmit information from the car itself to other cars within a few hundred meters, like the steer position, speed and brake status.  This way, the other vehicles will get a detailed picture of what is happening around them. As a result, tremendous crashes can be prevented (Knight, 2016).

In practice, this is not very new, because the ultrasound sensor which was introduced earlier also detects obstacles near the vehicle. The problem here is the limited range of the sensors which can never exceed the car-to-car communication. It is still a difficult challenge, though. To go even further, the communication system will also alert the driver when there is a traffic light or pedestrian. To live up to this, the vehicles have to make connection with street cameras or smartphones to detect the foot passenger (LeBeau, 2016).

This system will be first installed in Cadillacs later this year by Delphi. The value of the technology will not be very high in the beginning period, because of the few cars which can communicate with each other. However after the initial testing stage, more cars will be offered with the same technique (LeBeau, 2016). Other automakers are also developing and testing technology, which will make it probable that every car in the future can communicate with each other.

Sources:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534981/car-to-car-communication/

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/05/cars-talking-to-each-other-believe-it.html

Looking for the perfect house for you and your family is and will never be easy. Many choices and little time to visit applies here.  And even if the right house is found, how will your new home look after furnishing? A Virtual reality headset may be the solution here.

After a promise of VR on videogames, this technology is nowadays finding its place more and more in commercial applications. Using these headsets in military is nothing new. Soldiers can this way train in combat and other dangerous situations. Now it is time for the real estate industry.  A service from brokers that until recently seemed impossible is now on the front door. But how does it work? And is it really a gain?

The virtual reality headset gives the opportunity to view a house without really being there. It will not only show the house and rooms, but also give the viewer several options to furnish the whole house. This way, the client will get a glimpse of the house decorated with the potential furniture of their choice.  To make it even more ‘’real’’, the real estate agent can lead a virtual reality tour and see where the client is looking at and eventually address when necessary (Sisson, 2016).

All of this is time saving for both client and the broker.  Especially in the crowded cities. Visiting dozens of houses will at least take a few days considering the traffic. With the new headset a client can view 50 houses within a couple of hours and, this way, find the perfect home a lot sooner.

The turning point is the cost of making this all possible. To scan a house for the virtual presentation the cost will amount between $300 and $700. This means it is more suitable for high-end homes and so only the rich and famous people will utilize the service for now (Tracey, 2016).
However, looking to the technology development in the past 30 years, the virtual reality headsets will soon be decline in price and integrate in the brokerages world. In other words, what now seems like a luxury service will soon become a key sale tool.

Sources:

http://realtormag.realtor.org/technology/feature/article/2016/03/vr-headsets-real-estate-game-changer

http://www.curbed.com/2016/2/26/11120632/virtual-reality-real-estate