Ericsson Consumerlab released the sixth edition of its annual trend report The 10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2017 and beyond.

AI is an important theme this year and consumers see it playing a much more prominent role than before-both in society and at work. In fact, 35 percent of advanced internet users want an AI advisor at work, and one in four would like an AI as their manager.

These are the 10 trends for 2017 and beyond:

1. AI Everywhere – 35 percent of advanced internet users want an AI advisor at work, and one in four would like an AI as their manager. At the same time, almost half are concerned that AI robots will soon make a lot of people lose their jobs.

2. Setting the Pace for Internet of Things – Consumers are increasingly using automated applications, encouraging IoT adoption. Two in five believe smartphones will learn their habits and perform activities on their behalf automatically.

3. Pedestrians Drive Autonomous Cars – Car drivers may not exist in the future. One in four pedestrians would feel safer crossing a street if all cars were autonomous, and 65 percent of them would prefer to have an autonomous car.

4. Merged Reality – Almost four out of five virtual reality users believe VR will be indistinguishable from reality in only three years. Half of respondents are already interested in gloves or shoes that allow you to interact with virtual objects.

5. Bodies Out of Sync: As autonomous cars become reality, car sickness issues will increase, and three in ten foresee needing sickness pills. One in three also want motion sickness pills for use with virtual and augmented reality technology.

6. The Smart Device Safety Paradox – More than half already use emergency alarms, tracking or notifications on their smartphones. Of those who say their smartphone makes them feel safer, three in five say they take more risks because they rely on their phone.

7. Social Silos – Today, people willingly turn their social networks into silos. One in three says social networks are their main source of news. And more than one in four value their contacts’ opinions more than politicians’ viewpoints.

8. Augmented Personal Reality – Over half of people would like to use augmented reality glasses to illuminate dark surroundings and highlight dangers. More than one in three would also like to edit out disturbing elements around them.

9. The Privacy Divide: Two in five advanced internet users want to use only encrypted services, but people are divided. Almost half would like to have just reasonably good privacy across all services, and more than one out of three believes privacy no longer exists.

10. Big Tech for All: More than two out of five advanced internet users would like to get all their products from the biggest five IT companies. Of those, three in four believe this will happen only five years from now.

Reflecting on the rise of virtual reality, Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says

Beyond real time, I believe we should be talking about reality time. In fact, what we call reality becomes ever more personal and subjective. Consumers not only surround themselves with the like-minded on social networks, but also are also starting to customize the way they experience the world with augmented and virtual reality technologies.

Consumers also want the future to remain fully mobile, implying that demand for battery-friendly, instant and fast connectivity is set to grow rapidly. In that sense, reality time means it is time for 5G networks.

The insights in the 10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2017 report are based on Ericsson ConsumerLab’s global research activities over more than 20 years, as well as data points from an online survey of advanced internet users in 14 major cities across the world, performed in October 2016. Although the study only represents 27 million citizens, their early adopter profile makes them important to understand when exploring future trends.

For more information, please visit Report: 10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2017, Video, Infograph or Presentation

MyChoize, India’s fastest growing self-drive car rental brand owned by ORIX has announced the start of its operation in the cities of Jaipur & Ahmedabad starting December 2016. MyChoize would offer self-drive cars on the hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis for intra-city as well as inter-city travel needs of commuters. MyChoize is the self-drive brand of Orix Auto Infrastructure Services Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan’s second largest self-drive car rental company ORIX

The company announced that it will start its operations in Jaipur and Ahmedabad with the fleet providing options of a hatchback, sedan & SUVs to its customers in Jaipur. MyChoize offers a wide fleet of cars from manufacturers including Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Mahindra, Maruti and Nissan running across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and now Ahmedabad & Jaipur. The company provides cars across all segments including compact SUVs, hatchbacks, luxury cars, sedans, and SUVs to its customers.

Sandeep Gambhir, Managing Director, Orix India said

The states of Rajasthan and Gujarat allure travellers from all across the globe with its breathtaking attractions. Various cities in these states have much to offer when it comes to tourist attractions, with Jaipur and Ahmedabad being the starting points for most travellers. Our expansion into these cities is strategically placed to serve tourists as well as locals for all their travel related needs at most economical rates.

The fares of MyChoize self-drive cars would be starting as low as Rs. 48 per hour in the two cities. The company offers unlimited kilometers to its customers so that they don’t have to worry about a kilometer cap during their driving experience while exploring the state. Mr. Gambhir also announced that the company will be providing customers with a pickup and drop service for the self-drive cars at their doorsteps to make it more convenient for the travellers to use the services.

Keeping in tune with its global scale in self-drive business, Orix has plans to invest $30 million in the next 2 years in the expansion of Mychoize. The service which is currently available on www.mychoize.com would be launching its Android and iOS app by the end of this month.