This year was huge for the tech industry.
From Apple launching its first wearable to Tesla rolling out its (almost) driverless car, there were a lot of major events that not only captured the attention of the masses, but also helped spur big changes in the advancement of new technologies.
Here's a look at the 15 defining tech moments that changed our world in 2015.
Apple made its big jump into the wearable space with the launch of its Apple Watch in April.
While the device garnered a lot of attention, especially the pricey $10,000 gold version, the company has yet to share specific sales numbers. However, CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year that initial sales exceeded expectations.
In general, the wearables market, which includes both fitness trackers and smartwatches, will grow from 80 million units shipped in 2015 to more than 111.1 million units in 2016, according to recent estimates from IDC.
IDC estimates that the Apple Watch will account for 61.3% of smartwatch market share this year, and will continue to be the leader in the space for at least the next few years.
The tech giant is expected to reveal an updated model of the Apple Watch in March.
Cars were shown to be vulnerable to hacking.
Hackers took a big interest in connected cars this year.
One of the biggest hacking incidents included security researchers remotely taking over Jeep Cherokees from miles away.
Fiat Chrysler was forced to recall some 1.4 million cars after the white-hat hackers exposed the major security vulnerability that existed in the UConnect system in Jeep Cherokees.
GM's OnStar system was also found to have serious security flaws that enabled the car to be remotely taken over and security researchers found a number of ways to hack Tesla vehicles.
Cars equipped with accessories that enable cellular communication were also shown to havesecurity vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to control the brakes.
Like hackers, lawmakers also took an interest in the security of connected vehicles and have continued to host hearings with automakers to figure out how to best secure vehicle systems, while also allowing car companies to continue to innovate.
Tesla's Autopilot made self-driving cars a reality. Sort of.
Tesla rolled out its semi-autonomous Autopiliot system in October.
Among other things, the feature enables cars to self-steer, automatically change lanes, and automatically parallel park.
While Tesla was not the first car maker to integrate advanced automated safety features like into its vehicles, it was the first to implement the technology in such an aggressive way.
Tesla rolled out the system via a software update and basically gave its newer cars the ability to self-drive overnight. Not only that, but Tesla's semi-autonomous system does not automatically deactivate if a driver doesn't keep his or her hands on the wheel.
Other car makers with similar systems will generally force the driver to take the wheel again once a user's hands have been off the steering wheel for a certain period of time.
Major cable companies and networks launched streaming-only plans.
Cord cutters won a lot of victories in 2015.
In April, HBO launched HBO Now, which is a $15 per month standalone streaming service that anyone with broadband can purchase. That same month, CBS also made its streaming service called All Access available on the Roku platform.
Showtime followed suit in July by launching its own streaming service for $10.99 per month, available on Apple, Roku, Hulu, and PlayStation.
Dish Network's Sling TV, which lets you stream live TV, launched in February. And in November, Time Warner also began allowing some customers in New York and New Jersey to subscribe to cable TV without having to rent a cable box. Instead, customers could simply pay to get all the same channels via a Roku streaming box that the company sends for free.
Android was hit with a nasty vulnerability called Stagefright.
The "Stagefright" vulnerability, which is an exploit that allows hackers take over the operating system of any Android phone without the user ever knowing, went public in July.
Almost 1 billion Android devices were affected, and security researchers were quick to call it one of the biggest smartphone security flaws ever.
Google rolled out a patch, but because hardware manufacturers must first implement it before it can go to consumers, there's a good chance that millions of devices are still exposed.
Tech companies took a big stand on encryption.
The leaders of tech giants championed privacy in a big way this year.
Despite pressure from governments around the world for so-called back doors that enable access to encrypted messages, Apple, Google, Facebook, and other large tech companies took a firm stand.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the most outspoken advocates of not weakening encryption tools and said in October that he does not support a back door for any government ever.
Even after the Paris terror attacks, which spurred more pressure from governments to allow back doors, Apple, Facebook, Google along with dozens of other tech companies urged regulators to not weaken encryption tools.
The Hyperloop came closer to reality.
Elon Musk's Hyperloop became more than just a concept this year with Hyperloop startups garnering both attention and investors.
In November, Rob Lloyd, the CEO of Hyperloop Technologies, said the start-up had raised $26 million of a planned $80 million round and the company announced this month that it plans tobegin building its first test track just north of Las Vegas in January.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which is another start-up working on developing the transportation system, said it is also planning to break ground on its test track in Quay Valley, California early next year.
Musk also announced his Hyperloop pod contest over the Summer and is planning to break ground on his own test track for the competition during the next few months.
Artificial intelligence reached new heights.
Artificial intelligence became a lot more mainstream this year as more tech companies poured money into the technology trying to gain an edge.
The biggest move, though, came from Google in November when it announced that it was making its powerful AI system called TensorFlow open source.
Google uses TensorFlow in a lot of its products, including Search, Photos, and Google Translate. But the company made the software available to public so that even more progress can be made in machine learning.
Volkswagen was caught using software to trick emissions tests.
A woman looks a Volkswagen car during a presentation at the 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai
In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Volkswagen of violating the Clean Air Act for installing software on cars that violate emission standards.
Volkswagen acknowledged that more than 500,000 vehicles in the US had the emission cheating software installed and later said that about 11 million vehicles worldwide also had the software installed.
The automaker currently faces criminal and regulatory probes in the US and Europe related to the software.
Google morphed into Alphabet.
In August, Google surprised the world by announcing it planned to completely reorganize its corporate structure.
CEO Larry Page announced that Google's core business — which includes search, YouTube, and Android — would become a subsidiary of a larger parent company called Alphabet.
Other businesses, such as the company's life science division and its "moonshot" factory Google X, were also spun out as their own companies.
The reasoning behind the large shuffle was to enable the separate businesses to move more quickly and independently, Page said.
Alphabet officially began trading in October.
Instagram became bigger than Twitter.
Instagram exploded this year.
The Facebook-owned photo-sharing app hit 400 million monthly active users in September, surpassing Twitter users. Meanwhile, Twitter has struggled to show strong user growth. It replaced its CEO Dick Costolo with Jack Dorsey, one of the company's cofounders. The hope is that Dorsey can reinvigorate Twitter's product.
The new space race took off.
Companies developing reuseable rockets, which could dramatically reduce the cost of spaceflight, made huge progress in 2015.
In November, Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, made history when itsuccessfully launched its New Shepard rocket 62 miles above the Earth, released a space capsule, and then landed it back on the ground.
Elon Musk's SpaceX also made big progress in its reuseable rocket's efforts.
While the company has not yet been able to successfully land a rocket after a mission without an explosion, it came extremely close in April with its Falcon 9.
SpaceX managed to get the rocket to hit the ship where it was supposed to land, however, it ended up toppling over and exploding.
Still, though, it was a huge accomplishment and Musk promised in September that his rockets will be safe enough for human use in as little as two to three years. Considering that in November NASA gave SpaceX its first crewed mission order set for 2017, Musk will have to make good on that promise.
Live streaming took off.
In the beginning of the year, mobile live streaming became all the rage.
Meerkat was the first big streaming app to take off and was quickly followed by Twitter's Periscope app. The big question became which one would lead in the space?
Apple answered that question in December when it named Periscope the App of the year.
As of August, the live streaming service had already surpassed 10 million accounts, just four months after launch.
To put that into perspective, it took Twitter and Facebook two years to reach 10 million users.
Tech titans took a big stand on climate change.
Tech executives made big moves to help save the planet in 2015.
Elon Musk called for a carbon tax, Apple CEO Tim Cook committed to massive solar projects in China, and Google — which already purchases more renewable energy than any other company — pledged to triple its purchase of renewable energy by 2025.
But most notably, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and a number of other tech figures launched a new organization called Breakthrough Energy Coalition in November.
The group's aim is double the public's investment in energy research over the next five years from $10 billion to $20 billion, according to the Washington Post. It will focus on investing in companies that are developing energy technology.
Drone regulations for consumers became a reality.
In December, Federal regulators established rules to help them keep track of consumer drones.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will begin requiring all drone owners to register their aircraft with the government beginning on December 21st.
Owners must provide their name, email, address, and a $5 registration fee or they will be subject to civil and criminal penalties, including fines of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of $250,000.
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