The first digital camera, the first 3D image of a baby in its mother's womb, and the first brain stimulation system for treating Parkinson's disease tremors: these are just some of the famous inventions that TIME magazine has listed as the ‘Best Innovations’ of each year over the past 25 years.

‘Perhaps at some point, driving tests will no longer be necessary,’ says Prof. Achim Lilienthal, co-founder of QTPIE.

The recently published list of the 300 most significant products and ideas worldwide for the year 2025 includes an approach that Achim Lilienthal helped develop and promote. In 2022, the professor at the Technical University of Munich founded QTPIE together with five other researchers. The idea: a modern smartphone attached to the vehicle's dashboard uses its cameras to observe the driver and the traffic. Artificial intelligence uses this information to assess the driver's behaviour. ‘Perhaps at some point, driving tests will no longer be necessary, as the AI will have already determined during driving lessons that the learner driver is capable enough to drive,’ says Lilienthal, explaining the QTPIE vision. The professor can also envisage specific applications for insurance companies. More information about the QTPIE idea can be found on the TIME and QTPIE websites.

This year's Best Innovations also include Unitree's humanoid robot R1 and a household robot from Figure AI, as well as an initiative by an organisation (World Coffee Research) that aims to make coffee climate change-resistant and a printer that uses ultraviolet light to print on various materials such as wood, metal and acrylic. See the full list: Best Innovations 2025.

Text: Andreas Schmitz