Imagine a journey in which you can travel to destinations while asleep behind the steering wheel because your self-driving car can "talk" to other such vehicles to maintain a safe distance. [Special coverage]
Without using any devices, you can send an e-mail to a friend in no time simply through brain-to-brain communication.
This is not science fiction — this is the future predicted by China's technology giants, and it is closer to reality than you think.
Senior executives at the tech companies said on Thursday that the Internet of Things — a network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity — will further change lives in China.
They were discussing future technology trends at the 2nd World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.
Robin Li, chief executive officer of Baidu Inc, China's largest online search company, said he is betting on the future of artificial intelligence.
Li, whose company has applied artificial intelligence technology to vehicles, said self-driving cars will be quite common on the roads in three to five years.
"More important, cars will be more like a computer on wheels," he said, adding that people are expected to be able to connect with each other through their cars.
For Baidu's Internet rival Tencent Holdings Ltd, there is even the possibility of people communicating through retina or virtual reality technology.
"Even brain-to-brain communication via an electroencephalogram may be possible by wearing some devices," said Ma Huateng, chief executive officer of Tencent.
Zhou Hongyi, chief executive officer of Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, said that by connecting more than 1 billion people via smartphones, many innovative business models have been mushrooming and drastically changing people's lives in China.
"But in the future — be it cars or wearable devices — all things can be connected to each other via the Internet. The more people we have, the more devices can be connected to the Internet, and the stronger and more powerful our Internet industry will be," he said.
