Engine electrification, shared mobility, connectivity, autonomous driving and constant software updates are the five top megatrends which are shaping technological innovation in the automotive industry, where 40 percent of new car production is expected to be electric or hybrid by 2030.
Electric vehicles “are a major trend in the industry although there are also a number of associated challenges that have to be addressed,” says Alfred Beltran, head of Business Development for the Automotive Market at the Eurecat technology centre. They include the charging infrastructure, the shortage of raw materials for large-scale manufacture of batteries and the fact that “electric vehicles are still more expensive than conventional ones.”
“We will also shift from an ownership model to a pay-as-you-go system, a development which makes perfect sense in today’s world of large congested cities with high levels of pollution and parking problems.” The potential is even greater “if you consider how little we use our cars because most of the time they are parked or idle, while we also save on other things such as the cost of buying or servicing them.”
As for connectivity, “we’re talking about three levels” he says. The first is “connectivity between vehicles which can give us real-time information about incidents on the road such as an accident or a car that has broken down, damage to the road surface or icing.” Then there is also connectivity between the car and the infrastructure including traffic signs and traffic lights, and finally between the occupants of the vehicle and the outside world so that people can for instance work from their vehicle or connect to social media.
Another future trend “is that the driver will eventually disappear and the vehicle will make the decisions,” argues Beltran, who points out that there are five levels of autonomous driving. Most of the cars being manufactured today are already at levels 1 or 2, and it is estimated that within 10 years we will have fully autonomous vehicles (level 5). Indeed, “some tests are already being run by major manufacturers and the technology is pretty much available.”
Furthermore, the need for constant updating and the increasing importance of software and vehicle customisation leads customers to want cutting-edge, state-of-the-art solutions. This is a new trend which “shatters the natural cycle of manufacturers who release a new model every six years,” points out David Pardos, Business Developer for the Automotive Industry at Eurecat. He contends that this pattern “is too traditional and outdated for today’s users who are always looking to have a customised car with advanced features.”
As a result, vehicle software updates have been rolled out via the cloud (Over The Air Update) and Software as a Product (SaaP) whereby the user “has a car with an initial software version which after a while can be updated with a new version supplied by the manufacturer including better features and specifications, as has been the case for some time now with mobiles,” adds Pardos.
All these trends point to a scenario shaped by “the rapid evolution of the automotive industry in terms of technology and business models,” notes Guillem Quintana, Eurecat’s director of Business Development. “This means transformation and innovation at all levels from the leading manufacturers and suppliers to dealers and other stakeholders in the value chain.”
