At its most basic level, IoT just connects simple devices over the Internet or other network which could be private and/or wireless. Common examples include the ‘program-from-anywhere’ thermostats and security systems already in use. At the mid-level, IoT is an enabler of new business and technology models, not just incremental improvement of existing ones. For example, autonomous vehicles will require very high levels of communication among devices in the vehicle (e.g., LIDAR, sensors, cameras, computers) and most likely devices/sensors outside the vehicle (e.g., other vehicles, fixed cameras, servers with detailed maps). At the highest level, the interconnection of devices could lead, over time, to new technologies that will reorganize the society, much as the automobile and the Internet have. One possibility is the “Smart City”, where IoT is used not only in autonomous vehicles, but where all types of transportation are linked to provide optimized people movement. Private self-drive cars, in this scenario, would rarely be needed. This could lead to entirely different land use patterns, for example.

If you enjoy science fiction, as I do, you know that it’s replete with visions of worlds enabled by technology, both utopian and dystopian. A world without hunger or disease on the one hand to one reduced to a post-apocalyptic state by nuclear, biological, or cyber warfare or by a “technological singularity” (where, e.g., the…