From the Internet of People to the Internet of Things

When driving the vehicle to work or any other destination, we can rely on the use of an application on the vehicle’s dashboard or at least on our smartphone to guide us through the best way to get to the place of our choice, we can select options such as avoiding tolls or highways if we so choose, and then we just have to follow the voice prompts from the application. Awesome! So; there are more applications than we can count for a variety of related services that help us in our daily activities.

Now imagine driving your vehicle away from home to a distant destination for your next vacation. Having an application that guides your journey and, at the same time as you drive, checks the fuel tank level of your vehicle and notifies you of the nearest gas station with the lowest prices of your preferred octane rating for your vehicle on your way to go ahead if necessary to , making sure there is enough gas in the tank to reach your destination; have the same app continually checking tire pressure and overall vehicle health, and providing alerts such as any of these issues that require attention.

While driving long hours on your trip, imagine the app giving you food and accommodation options based on your preferences, such as price range, bed and amenities preferences, or for vegetarian, Mexican or Italian restaurants in the area, and giving you the best of all options. All you have to do is speak or tap the option of your choice and the app will complete the reservation for you and/or guide you through the new stop on your way.

How far in the future?

Some of these features we are enjoying today, but there are others that will be available very soon, it is a trend destined to grow exponentially, it will include many, if not all, of our day-to-day needs imaginable. All these interactions is what is called the Internet of Things, certainly it is no longer a thing that will take place in the future but a reality of our present, and it is expanding quite fast.

Because it is important?

Just as the Internet is here to connect people, the Internet of Things is here to connect devices that can now interact with each other, it is estimated that since 2008 there are more devices connected to the Internet than people. It is easy to assume and understand why the Internet of Things is so important and why we should worry about knowing it and using it as an integral part of our lives.

The Internet of Things aims to facilitate our daily activities and tasks by making some basic decisions on our behalf, where there is a network of devices that connect to the Internet to remove repetitive actions or complete tasks by learning from our condition and preferences. Those futuristic self-driving cars we see in movies are closer than ever to reality, so sit back and see more as they become available.

It is true that the IoT has just been born, there is much for all parties to learn and develop to make it grow in a structured and efficient way. To be fully feasible, its development must be designed to allow easy connection between devices, a plug-n-play concept.