Future Technologies That Will Change the World by 2035

By 2035, everyday life will feel radically different from 2025, less because of one “magic” invention and more because multiple future technologies mature and weave together into a new normal. Instead of focusing only on single innovations like AI humanoid robots, AR glasses, flying cars, AI healthcare assistants, or smart cities (which you already cover in separate articles), this pillar guide looks at how entire technology stacks converge to reshape work, cities, health, mobility, and even what it means to be human.

1. Embodied AI: From Algorithms to Colleagues and Caregivers

By 2035, AI will no longer live only in chatbots and cloud servers, it will inhabit physical bodies, tools, and infrastructure in ways that fundamentally change labor, logistics, and care.

Humanoid Robotics as an Economic Force

Analysts project that the humanoid robotics market could grow from just a few billion dollars today to tens or even hundreds of billions by 2035, as costs drop and capabilities rise. Key drivers include:

• Aging populations and shrinking workforces in developed economies.
• Chronic labor shortages in logistics, manufacturing, and care work.
• 30× reductions in actuator and component costs over the past decade, making advanced robots commercially viable.

Humanoid robots won’t replace all human jobs, but they will increasingly handle the “3D” tasks, dirty, dull, and dangerous, on factory floors, in warehouses, and in disaster zones. Humans will shift toward oversight, exception-handling, creativity, and relationship-driven work.

Beyond Humanoids: Swarms, Soft Robots, and Microbots

Not all embodied AI will look human. By 2035 we’ll see:

• Swarms of small delivery robots coordinating via AI to move packages, medical supplies, and groceries.
• Soft robots capable of safely interacting with delicate environments, think agriculture, elder care, or surgical assistance.
• Micro‑robots designed to work in swarms inside pipes, turbines, or even the human body for inspection and targeted treatment.

The key shift is that “AI” stops being just an app and becomes a physical actor in the economy, transforming cost structures and expectations for reliability and availability.

2. Ambient Reality: AR Glasses, Spatial Interfaces, and “Everywhere” Screens

By 2035, the idea of pulling out a rectangular smartphone for every digital interaction will feel as outdated as rotary phones.

AR Glasses as the Default Interface

Forecasts suggest that AR glasses shipments could reach tens of millions of units annually by around 2030, laying the foundation for mass adoption well before 2035. By then:

• Lightweight AR / MR (mixed reality) glasses will overlay context, navigation, translation, and instructions directly into your field of view.
• Voice plus gesture plus gaze will replace most tap/swipe interactions as spatial interfaces mature.
• “Heads‑up” computing will become the norm at work: technicians, surgeons, architects, and field engineers will see digital instructions and models anchored to physical objects.

This isn’t just about “cool glasses.” It’s about ambient reality, a blend of physical and digital spaces that makes information available exactly when and where you need it.

Spatial Collaboration and “Living” Content

By 2035, meetings, education, and entertainment will increasingly happen in shared spatial environments:

• Teams will brainstorm around 3D data models floating on the desk, even if everyone is remote.
• Lessons in history, biology, or engineering will take place inside interactive simulations, not flat textbooks.
• Films and games will blur into “living stories” that respond to the viewer’s environment and choices.

AR is the user interface layer that binds many future technologies, AI, IoT, and smart cities, into a seamless experience rather than isolated systems.

3. Future Mobility: Flying Cars, Autonomy, and Urban Air Networks

The phrase “flying cars” is becoming less science fiction and more urban air mobility and advanced air mobility (AAM). By 2035, this ecosystem is expected to be a multi‑billion-dollar global industry.

Urban Air Mobility Becomes Practical

Market forecasts estimate the broader advanced air mobility market could grow from about USD 14 billion in the mid‑2020s to USD 90+ billion by 2035, driven largely by electric vertical take‑off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and air taxis. Another research house projects urban air mobility alone could reach over USD 120 billion by 2035.

Key elements:

• eVTOL air taxis shuttling passengers between vertiports on rooftops and transport hubs, bypassing ground congestion.
• Cargo drones handling high‑value, time‑critical logistics (lab samples, spare parts, emergency supplies).
• Digitally managed air corridors, with AI‑based traffic control systems coordinating thousands of autonomous flights per hour.

Instead of everyone owning a personal flying car, by 2035 you’re more likely to book an air ride from your phone, integrated into multimodal transport and smart‑city platforms.

Autonomy and Regulation

Self‑driving cars and autonomous drones will be much more common, though not perfect.

• High autonomy on fixed routes (dedicated lanes, tightly mapped corridors) will be normal.
• Full “go anywhere, do anything” autonomy will still be constrained by regulation, edge cases, and public acceptance.

The technological challenge is no longer just building vehicles, it’s managing airspace, safety, noise, and environmental impact.

4. AI‑Driven Healthcare: From Virtual Assistants to Predictive, Personalized Care

Healthcare will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI and related future technologies by 2035.

AI Healthcare Assistants as First‑Line Care

The healthcare virtual assistants market is projected to grow from about USD 1.4 billion in the mid‑2020s to roughly USD 19 billion by 2035. By then, AI healthcare assistants and triage tools will:

• Handle first‑line patient interactions: symptom checkers, appointment routing, medication reminders.
• Provide real‑time diagnostic suggestions to clinicians, integrated into electronic health records and imaging systems.
• Deliver mental health support, basic counseling, and follow‑up via multimodal interfaces (voice, text, video avatars).

These assistants will free human professionals to focus on complex diagnosis, procedure‑heavy care, and human‑to‑human emotional support.

Continuous Monitoring and Predictive Medicine

The combination of AI, IoT, and high‑bandwidth networks will turn healthcare from reactive to predictive:

• Wearables and implantables will continuously track heart rhythms, blood glucose, sleep patterns, and more.
• AI will spot risk patterns early, triggering personalized preventive interventions rather than emergency treatments.
• For chronic diseases, patient‑specific models will optimize therapy, dosage, and lifestyle recommendations.

By 2035, AI systems will not just support doctors; they’ll co‑manage care with patients, providing ongoing coaching and surveillance between hospital visits.

Data, Privacy, and Trust

Data privacy and interoperability are currently major bottlenecks.

• Expect wider use of blockchain‑based health data platforms for secure sharing and audit trails.
• Global standards will emerge around consent, anonymization, and “data portability” so patients can move data across providers and countries.

The benefit is enormous, fewer misdiagnoses, earlier interventions, and lower costs, but only if trust and governance keep pace.

5. Smart Cities and Digital Infrastructure: The City as a Platform

By 2035, leading cities will operate as digital platforms, using real‑time data to coordinate everything from traffic lights to energy grids.

IoT, AI, and Digital Twins

Smart cities will build on three core pillars:

• IoT as the urban nervous system – trillions of sensors and edge devices monitoring traffic, pollution, energy use, water systems, and infrastructure health.
• AI as the decision engine – algorithms predicting demand patterns, optimizing routes, and identifying anomalies before they become failures.
• Digital twins – real‑time virtual replicas of entire cities, used for planning, simulation, and crisis response.

Case studies already show early impacts:

• AI‑driven crime data analysis in New York has helped reduce response times by double‑digit percentages.
• London’s air‑quality monitoring systems have increased public awareness and informed environmental policy.
• Tokyo aims to deploy hundreds of thousands of robots to support aging populations and urban logistics by 2035.

By 2035, many medium and large cities will run on similar architectures, enabling everything from smart zoning to dynamic congestion pricing.

Citizen Experience and Governance

Future smart cities won’t just optimize traffic, they’ll change how citizens interact with government:

• Real‑time feedback loops: service requests, voting on local projects, participatory budgeting via digital platforms.
• AI‑assisted urban planning, where citizens explore proposals in AR and provide granular feedback.
• New debates about surveillance vs safety, algorithmic bias, and digital rights.

Cities that get the governance right, transparent, participatory, privacy‑aware, will become magnets for talent and investment.

6. Computing Frontiers: Quantum, Neuromorphic, and Specialized Chips

By 2035, classic general‑purpose chips will be just one part of a heterogeneous computing landscape.

Quantum Computing at Practical Scale

Quantum computing won’t replace classical computing, but it will redefine what’s possible in a few critical domains:

• Materials science – simulating complex molecules and materials to design better batteries, superconductors, and lightweight alloys.
• Pharmaceuticals – exploring enormous chemical search spaces for new drugs much faster than brute-force methods.
• Climate and logistics – better optimization for grid management, route planning, and climate models.

By 2035, we’re likely to see quantum systems used via cloud APIs for specialized workloads, integrated into research, finance, and logistics platforms.

Neuromorphic and Edge AI

To support trillions of devices, the future will lean heavily on neuromorphic chips and ultra‑efficient AI accelerators:

• Devices will process more data locally, reducing latency and bandwidth demands.
• Power-efficient “brain‑like” chips will enable AI in sensors, wearables, and industrial equipment without constant cloud connectivity.

This shift is crucial for privacy, cost control, and resilience, particularly in healthcare, smart cities, and industrial automation.

7. Climate and Energy Technologies: Mitigation and Adaptation

Real transformation by 2035 must include climate resilience.

Green Energy and Storage

Breakthroughs in materials (often driven by quantum‑assisted design) will accelerate clean energy:

• More efficient solar and wind systems tuned to local conditions.
• Advanced batteries and supercapacitors for grid‑scale storage and electric transport.
• Novel hydrogen production and storage technologies for heavy industry and aviation.

Smart grids will use AI to balance supply and demand, integrate distributed generation, and respond to extreme weather more gracefully.

Climate Adaptation and Geo‑Engineering Lite

We’re also likely to see:

• AI‑driven micro‑climate modeling for cities, informing urban design to reduce heat islands and flood risk.
• Nature‑based solutions enhanced with tech, like sensor‑guided reforestation, coastal protection, and precision agriculture.

Hard geo‑engineering (e.g., large‑scale solar radiation management) will remain controversial, but smaller‑scale interventions, cloud brightening trials, carbon‑capture deployments, may be active areas of experimentation.

8. Human–Machine Interfaces: Brain–Computer Links and Augmented Cognition

By 2035, “using a computer” may include direct interaction with your nervous system in some contexts.

Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCI)

BCIs will progress through stages:

• Non‑invasive BCIs (headbands, earbuds) used for focus tracking, fatigue detection, and basic input in games and training.
• Medical BCIs helping restore movement for paralyzed patients, treat epilepsy, and support neurorehabilitation.
• Early hybrid control scenarios where humans supervise robots or drones via intention signals, improving reaction times and workload distribution.

Full‑fledged consumer mind‑typing is less likely by 2035, but BCIs will be mainstream in certain medical and industrial niches.

Augmented Cognition

Even without implants, AI co‑pilots will augment human thinking:

• Instant research briefs, literature reviews, and decision support on any topic.
• Personal “memory layers” that track what you’ve read, who you’ve met, and what you’ve promised, then proactively remind you.
• Language augmentation: real‑time translation, style adaptation, argument‑strength analysis.

The key challenge won’t be capability, it will be designing systems that enhance rather than replace human agency.

9. Economy, Work, and Education in an AI‑Saturated World

By 2035, AI and automation will be deeply embedded across sectors, with both upsides and risks.

Work and Employment

Most experts expect a mixed picture:

• Routine cognitive and physical tasks will be heavily automated.
• New categories of work will emerge around AI oversight, human–AI collaboration, robotics maintenance, and digital experience design.
• Lifelong learning will be a necessity, not a slogan.

The biggest shift is not just “job loss” but job redesign, with humans doing more judgment, creativity, and interpersonal work while machines handle repetition and data‑heavy legwork.

Education and Reskilling

Education systems will increasingly:

• Use AI tutors and adaptive learning platforms to personalize instruction.
• Treat digital literacy, AI literacy, and systems thinking as core skills.
• Integrate project‑based learning using AR, robotics, and real-world data.

By 2035, much of your “education” will happen continuously, through micro‑courses, in‑tool training, and AI‑driven recommendations, rather than only in formal institutions.

10. Governance, Ethics, and the Human Choice

The technologies above are not destiny, they’re tools. By 2035, the most important differentiator between societies won’t be who has AI or quantum computing, but how they’re governed and integrated.

Key questions that will shape outcomes:

• Who owns and controls the data that fuels AI, smart cities, and healthcare systems?
• How transparent are algorithms that influence policing, credit, hiring, or political discourse?
• Do we design technology to reduce inequality and empower citizens, or to centralize power and maximize short-term profit?

Experts warn of polarization, surveillance, and manipulation risks, but also highlight enormous potential for better health, education, and civic participation if we choose wisely. The period to 2035 is less about inventing brand‑new miracles and more about deciding which futures we want to scale.

How to Prepare for a 2035 World

For individuals, organizations, and cities, preparing for these future technologies means:

• Investing in adaptability – skills, systems, and cultures that can evolve fast.
• Prioritizing interoperability and open standards so today’s choices don’t lock you out of tomorrow’s ecosystems.
• Centering ethics and human values in AI, automation, and data strategies from the start.
• Experimenting early with pilot projects in AR, AI assistants, smart infrastructure, and new mobility models.

By 2035, the most successful people and societies will be those that embraced these technologies as tools for human flourishing, not merely as gadgets or cost-cutting tactics. The future is not just about AI humanoid robots, AR glasses, flying cars, AI healthcare assistants, or smart cities in isolation, it’s about how all of them intersect to reshape what we can do, who we can be, and how we live together on a finite planet.