Since its beginnings, augmented reality has left a lasting influence on people all over the world. This technology has piqued the interest of smartphone users and new and established businesses, prompting entrepreneurs and marketers to consider investing in AR app development. Technology has had a revolutionary influence on the corporate sector in recent years. The AR technology developments will force every businessperson to consult specialists and enter this area to gain a larger share of the anticipated market size in the next few years.

To keep you up to speed about the latest developments, we assembled the trends in AR you to watch out for in 2022.

Providing consumers with a virtual shopping experience has become one of the biggest trends in augmented reality for many retailers such as American Apparel, Uniqlo, Lacoste, Kohls, Sephora. Others have made virtual fitting rooms a reality for their clients. This allows customers to have a try-before-buy experience from home. This is especially important because of how social distancing policies are affecting retail during the COVID-19 pandemic. AR is in a great position to address this issue.

This does not only apply to clothing. The IKEA app allows customers to see how furniture and other products might look in their own homes using AR technology. Opportunities don’t stop at home on consumers’ mobile phones. While in-store, smart mirrors and RFID tags open up new avenues for offering products to customers.

Virtual fitting room technology isn’t going away anytime soon. While the pandemic has demanded AR as a solution for customers unable to come to the personal store, the benefits, convenience, and growing acceptance of virtual fitting room technology indicate that it will remain one of the top AR trends for years to come.

Another big AR trend is in how people will use it to navigate their way from one place to another. With more bandwidth and indoor environment control, the benefits offered by AR for indoor navigation are clear. There are a wide variety of tools that can be used to enhance this experience at various scales, such as Bluetooth beacons, ceiling antennas, and QR codes. However, in cases where a reliable Wi-Fi network already exists, Apple’s iPhone AR is good enough to handle indoor positioning using Wi-Fi RF patterns.

Google AR Live View walking directions for Google Maps have improved since it first entered beta in August 2019. In October 2020, Google announced several new features to improve the outdoor AR Live View experience. These included the ability to overlay landmarks and extend the live view to more cities. The integration between Live View and Google Maps location Sharing will also roll out to consumers in the near future. Altitude is also an important aspect of the process that improves Live View performance in hilly areas such as San Francisco.

ARKit and ARCore-powered apps help consumers find their way at airports, shopping malls, and more. In ARKit 4, Apple introduced a powerful outdoor AR navigation tool called Geo Tracking, which uses a street view to provide the best possible positioning. The augmented reality future development will make it almost impossible to get lost.

One of the most interesting AR trends is that it will be combined with AI. The role of artificial intelligence in augmented reality cannot be underestimated. The high demands placed on augmented reality software simply cannot rely solely on human programming to display virtual objects against the backdrop of the real world. Neural networks and machine learning can perform these tasks with much greater efficiency and can greatly improve the augmented reality experience.

AI can also play a supporting role alongside AR. For example, automated suggestions can be given personally to shoppers in a store using the AR interface on their smartphone. These proposals will be based on chatbots powered by natural language processing (NLP) technologies.

AR-driven virtual fitting room technology would not have been possible without AI support. AI plays a vital role in analyzing a user’s facial features and contours, as well as the rest of their body if needed. Therefore, augmented reality companies need to take into account how AI can take their products to the next level and offer even better customer experiences.

Teleworking has risen significantly during the pandemic, and people will continue to work remotely well into 2022 and beyond. AR will play a bigger role in teleworking, which is why it will make the list of the top augmented reality trends in 2022. With the increase in teleworkers, new solutions are required to maintain the effectiveness of some of the professions that previously worked in person. IT computer repair is a great example. Augmented reality can enable IT, professionals to guide customers using on-screen instructions. When a customer brings their smartphone camera to a computer in need of service, the IT professional can swipe across the screen to direct the customer to specific points of interest.

Remote work with AR experiences can be built using WebRTC. This allows both parties to connect to each other and see the same AR experience through a peer-to-peer connection. This is necessary in order for the video to be sent in real-time without causing problems with the server loading. It is worth pointing out that given the rise of the metaverse, entire office environments can be transformed into a metaverse where everyone can communicate as if they are in the same room with one another. This is another important reason why AR in teleworking is one of the growing augmented reality trends.

Driver safety may not seem like an augmented reality trend, but this is a use for AR we see more and more. Gamers might be familiar with heads-up displays (HUD). However, the AR HUD will serve a practical purpose for drivers, allowing them to process information that supports their view of the road rather than interfering with it.

Besides AR apps for driving, AR can be used for automotive marketing as well. BMW and Accenture have developed an AR app that allows customers to experience a new vehicle in their driveway without having to go to the dealership. They can also see what the virtual car looks like in different colors.

One of the most interesting uses of augmented reality trends in education is their impact on employee training. In the workplace, AR can enhance the learning and comprehension of both apprentices and long-term employees alike. Furthermore, AR can help to promote more employee engagement and safety awareness — helping to ease the costs of training while lowering learning curves along the way.

Many of us naturally learn best by doing actions and physically doing things instead of watching and learning. AR provides the opportunity for hands-on learning in a structured and interactive way. With physical devices, new employees can practice job activities at their own pace without any pressure or danger attached to making the wrong move.

Also, there can be an element of danger attached to making a poor decision in some industries, and hands-on training environments can often still carry some danger. However, with augmented reality, trainees can practice tasks without the risk of injury to themselves or those around them.

All of the AR trends we mentioned earlier are growing already and will continue to play an important factor in the years to come. If you are looking to take advantage of these trends and develop an AR solution for your company, consider hiring Skywell Software to develop your solution for you. We have extensive experience in AR and VR and can actualize even the most imaginative projects. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.

Top 6 Augmented Reality Trends to Watch Out for in 2022 was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.