Dec 26, 2016 08:00 AM EST By Marj Sendon, UniversityHerald Reporter

All throughout this year, people all over the globe were witness to fast-paced technological progress. There is no stopping this trend and it is more likely to continue in 2017, especially in the fields of augmentend reality (AR), driverless cars, artificial intelligence (AI) and more. Check out the trends to watch out for in 2017.

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

The explosion of virtual reality (VR) in the tech scene is no doubt one hottest segment tech and gaming markets. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook finds AR is much more interesting for his company. He said it won't come be surprising if Apple will focus on AR when they introduce the new iPhone in 2017. He added that not only Apple will focus on AR as non-Apple phones like Google Tango tech may also feature AR, The Guardian reported.

Self-driving Cars

Despite the recent issues Uber encountered during their trial with driverless cars, the self driving cars still continue to advance. Car manufactures continue to put effort on ensuring the safety of riders. Upcoming fully automated self-driving cars are now featured with cruise controls including lane-assisting features to make sure that the car stays within its lane. It uses adaptive cruise control to maintain the distance from the car in front. With these new features, it is predicted that more consumers will purchase fully automated self-driving cars.

2-in-1 Computers

Expect to see more 2-in-1 computers in the year 2017 as more PC vendors' goal is to move to the convertible designed computers. The 2-in-1 computers are tablet like design computers with an attachable keyboard that can work as a pc and tablet, hence the name 2-in-1.

AI will become more popular in 2017

The year 2017 will focus more on date efficiency making some things easier despite its vulnerabilities in the online world. However, according to TIME, expect that the upcoming AI versions will add machine learning capabilities.The IA researchers put efforts in the improvement in machine quality vision, speech synthesis, speech understanding and natural language understanding.

Increased Number of Chinese Tech Products

More and more Chinese tech companies are expanding their market in the U.S. and it seems there is no stopping them despite being tagged as cheap electronic gadgets. Huawei has started making a name in the country.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit