Our top 5 tech trends for 2023

We’ve asked a few of our experts at Tobii what tech trends to watch out for and what they believe will be significant in 2023.

Our head of automotive, Peter Tiberg, highlights the impact of EU regulations mandating driver monitoring systems in all new vehicles and the importance of data transparency — for all tech domains, not just automotive. Maggie Ma (head of XR marketing) echoes Tiberg’s thoughts on data transparency and adds her own on the growth she expects in XR. Some of our other experts have talked about the continued impact of generative AI and a boost in the use of tech in sports. We hope you enjoy our insights.

#1. Sports performance and advanced tech

Athletes, teams, and coaches have been relying on technology to raise performance for many years. Eye tracking and attention computing have an edge over manual observation of performance because the data these technologies deliver is objective and is consequently a reliable barometer of what works and what doesn’t. The insights our technology can generate help athletes to enhance performance because it visualizes perception and action patterns.

The potential applications of how to use eye tracking data in sports performance are many. Still, some examples of current uses include preventing injuries, enhancing immersive experiences for sports fans and athletes, and enabling sports science research, such as this deep dive into quiet eye.

#2. Driver monitoring systems — a requirement on all new vehicles

The EU has mandated that any new vehicle must include a driver monitoring system (DMS) from July of next year (2024). Vehicle manufacturers are already implementing DMS into their 2023 productions to ensure that their cars, vans, and trucks will be approved for European roads and contribute to Vision Zero – zero road fatalities, a blog pst by our head of Automotive.

Tiberg believes that the 2023 trend for DMS providers is continued platform evolution and support for automotive companies in their requirements to fulfill regulations. Following this trend, he says the four key features of Tobii DMS are:

1. Camera-position-agnostic algorithms. To reduce the need for adaptation, data collection, and algorithm training, enabling manufacturers to choose the best camera position.
2. Cost-efficient hardware. Delivering high-quality performance on low-spec cameras and computing power.
3. Time-saving integration. Supporting OEMs to implement DMS on a variety of vehicles without increasing integration costs or time.
4. Our data transparency policy and best practices gained from partnering with leaders across a variety of industries.

Tiberg also mentions that the automotive industry has shifted toward defining vehicles by their software, which impacts DMS and other industry tendencies, such as electric vehicles, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving. 

#3. Generative AI will continue to make waves

With the arrival of OpenAI solutions like DALL-E and ChatGPT, 2022 marked the year when generative AI systems broke into the mainstream. In 2023, this topic will continue to draw attention as new use cases become apparent, like the ones we saw in 2022 finding bugs in code, writing essays, and winning art competitions. The controversies surrounding generative AI will continue to fuel discussions like the potential to replace human labor, copyright concerns, the accuracy of output, and the creation of deepfake content. We used DALL-E, for example, to create the feature image for this post.

The systems are constantly improving, so in 2023, we can expect new and improved versions of, for example:

• DALL-E — a deep learning model that generates digital imagery from natural-language descriptions.
• ChatGPT — generates text for use in conversations such as chatbots, but can also generate text content such as social media posts, emails, and so on.
• GPT-4 — upcoming version of OpenAI’s NLP content generator.
• StyleGAN — a generative adversarial network (GAN) for creating high-quality images of faces and other objects.
• DeepDream — a program that uses convolutional neural networks to add a dream-like effect to images.
• WaveNet — a deep neural network architecture to generate realistic-sounding speech and music.
• CycleGAN — a GAN trained to convert images (say from day to night) without requiring a paired model.

4. Data transparency — a protagonist in 2023

In our data-driven society, countless consumers have been exposed to data leaks, identity theft, and credit card fraud. According to Qonsent, more than 94% of consumers think it’s important to have control over the data they share and to know how this information is used by brands.

And while we have been committed to data transparency (DT) for many years, we believe it will be a key issue in 2023 and that more and more companies will share their data transparency policies. Here are some DT best practices recommended by HubSpot:

• Be open and transparent about data usage, collection, and storage.
• Establish internal processes for data management.
• Collect only necessary data.
• Clearly explain what you do with consumer data and the benefit gained.

And while data transparency is crucial for all industries, Tiberg highlights the need to prioritize an open data transparency policy for driver monitoring systems because drivers need to feel secure that their integrity is upheld. Otherwise, we are likely to see people covering the cameras that collect data.

Maggie Ma (our head of marketing for XR) echoes Tiberg’s focus on data transparency. She says that the same is true in the XR industry. All players will contribute to implementing a common approach to transparency so that sensitive biometric signals and what they reveal about a person are handled securely.

#5. Boost XR large-scale adoption as price and performance balance

Ma also talks about how XR applications reduce business costs, increase productivity, and improve decision-making, encouraging enterprises and consumers to adopt VR and AR. She also highlights the expectation for eye tracking in XR and how device design will focus on low power, enhanced comfort and aesthetics, deep immersion, and capabilities augmented by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and eye tracking.

Eye tracking and attention computing have become an essential part of XR devices, says Ma. In 2023, we are likely to see OEMs, independent software vendors, and game developers balance the price and performance, using our solutions to deliver:

• Immersive graphics — enabled by dynamic foveated rendering and distortion compensation. Reducing the processing needs to render a scene in real-time without any perceived compromise in visual quality.
• Intuitive interactions — eye tracking reduces the need for hand controllers because it enables users to control objects by looking at them, aiming, and teleporting with gaze.
• System optimization — by leveraging where the user focuses, foveated transport reduces video encoding and decoding latency, as well as bandwidth requirements and transfer latency.

To summarize, the 2023 tech horizon looks promising for athletes looking to enhance their performance with advanced techs like attention computing. Europe will take a big step ahead in road safety. New generative AI use cases will arise. Data transparency will become a must for brands to retain consumers. And balancing the price and performance of the devices will be the focus of the XR industry.

Keep up to date with new use cases and innovations enabled by attention computing and eye tracking following our blog updates.