New Automotive Technology Research Report
Are you looking for insight into the current opinions and outlooks of members of the automotive industry? Informa Infrastructure Intelligence’s recent survey of over 750 engineers and auto industry members assembled useful information on the technologies that automotive professionals are most focused on today and where they think the industry is heading.
Our respondents also identified their major concerns with advanced transportation technologies and the foremost challenges they feel the industry needs to overcome to achieve a safer, smarter, more reliable, and increasingly efficient transportation infrastructure.
Together, these responses have been gathered up into Informa Electronic Group’s Automotive Industry Survey: Advanced Transportation Report.
Key insights of the report include:
- Industry professionals are more focused today on the individual technologies that make up the autonomous vehicle than the self-driving car itself. These include sensors, security solutions, motor technology, EVs and HEVs, and V2V/V2X communications. And these technologies are still crucial to the development of advanced cars, whether or not they are in an autonomous vehicle.
- There is still some industry anxiety about the real-world application and provability of advanced sensors, AI, and machine learning. This may be something that can only be allayed with time and the successful repetition of error-free tests.
- People are really concerned with safety! This apprehension stood out above all others. The industry has its work cut out for it in proving that technological advancements will keep drivers and pedestrians safe, even if they have already shown themselves to be a significant improvement over error-prone anthropoid operators.
- Energy storage technologies and the associated charging infrastructure are a significant limitation for (and will be a key factor in the success of) advanced transportation. The batteries and other storage technologies of today are lacking in sufficient capacity, are too large and too costly, and take too long to charge. Improving these factors – all while ensuring safety – will be crucial.
- State and federal regulations should always be back of mind. These will advance at an unpredictable rate, and the industry will need to anticipate their impacts as best as possible. Most respondents reported that pending regulations and rules have had some impact on their development schedules and priorities.
- Industry professionals were divided on whether or not we can expect widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles within the next decade. And a majority believe that that most people will still own vehicles in ten years, throwing (or maybe just splashing) water on the idea of a network of shared and self-driving vehicles ferrying us all around all the time being just around the corner.
For more detail on where the auto industry currently stands on the future of advanced transportation, download our Automotive Industry Survey: Advanced Transportation Report.