Firm Estimates Automotive AR Industry Will Reach $5.5 Billion By 2022

With 177% growth and 1.7 million AR glasses shipped, this potential future would change the automotive industry forever.

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The entertainment aspect of augmented reality's impact is the most front-facing when it comes to casual consumers, but its impact elsewhere cannot be doubted. An advisory board that focuses on transformative technology estimates that the AR automotive industry will grow to $5.5 billion by 2022 on the strength of augmented reality's influence on design, production, and sales.

Source: Bosche-presse

"Augmented Reality benefits automotive manufacturers at many stages of a product cycle, including design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing," says Marina Lu, Senior Analyst at ABI Research, in an AR market report covered by Business Insider. "In design, digital 3D visualization and analysis of body structure and components can save time and resources. Collaboration is streamlined and improved, evaluating the same content in real time, which ultimately speeds up decision-making. AR technology supplements traditional tools, such as clay modeling, with virtual components on top of an existing physical object, to show design variants or to support design reviews, again shortening cycles and saving on design and prototyping costs."

The report mentions that automotive giants Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Jeep, and Volvo have all begun leveraging AR for their business, and they could have some company if efforts like NVIDIA's AR platform for autonomous vehicles take off.

ABI also estimates specifically global shipments for AR glasses will 1.7 million units, which is a division of augmented reality that Facebook is rumored to be investing in with Oculus AR glasses.

"While it is still early for automotive AR use, the applications at play have already shown proven ROI," adds Eric Abbruzzese, Principal Analyst. "ROI is always the first question to answer for any new technology, and this is especially true for AR. Collaboration, step by step instruction, remote expertise, 3D spatial visualization, and more have all been tried across industries, with positive and predictable results. The importance of design and prototyping combined with the slim margins of the automotive industry make it a prime candidate for wide AR adoption. From 3D visualization with designers to enhancing employee efficiency and safety on the plant floor to enticing buyers with digital experiences, the symbiotic relationship between augmented reality and the end-to-end automotive market is strong, and will continue to strengthen and grow."

Apple declared that AR is going to dramatically change the way a generation learns but it will also change how it drives, how it shops, and even how it applies makeup. Stay tuned to Shacknews for more transformative tech news.

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.

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