Mary Meeker’s Internet trends report highlights the voice interface and autonomous car

Sure, smartphone adoption is slowing and many online video ads still don’t work, but the voice interface and the autonomous car are the technologies of the future. And don’t forget data as the next “platform.”

Such are the key observations from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Partner Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report, released Wednesday. The 213-slide report looks at the growth of Internet users (flattening), the top Internet nations (India now ranks as number two behind China and ahead of the United States for the first time) and technology trends.

The first trend of note is that global smartphone shipments are slowing dramatically, with iPhone sales perhaps peaking in 2015. The second is that video advertising can be effective but the keys to that success are traits such as authenticity and entertainment, with companies such as Snapchat showing the way.

The third is that messaging growth continues as messages become more expressive.

But most important is the evolution of the voice interface. Voice accuracy rates are rapidly rising to above 90 percent. When they reach 99 percent, use should explode, the slide show suggests.

Equally important is the computerization of the auto, the report points out. The technology is still early. But innovation is accelerating in the United States, a positive for U.S. manufacturers and companies such as Uber Technologies, where uberPool could be 20 percent of Uber rides in less than two years.