Possible Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles

With the increased development and deployment of autonomous vehicles, car manufacturers and the entire automobile industry are facing various challenges and opportunities that are reshaping the traditional automotive landscape.

This chapter is meant for highlighting all the possible challenges and impacts of autonomous vehicles on the auto industry and car manufacturers.

Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on Car Manufacturers

With advancement in autonomous vehicle technology, the following impacts and challenges are affecting the car manufacturers and the entire auto industry −

Changing Business Models and Revenue Streams

Traditionally, car manufacturers were focused on designing, manufacturing, and selling cars. The selling of cars direct to consumers is one of the primary sources of revenue for all car manufacturers. But with the autonomous vehicle technology, new business models have been created like shared robo-taxi, ride-hailing, subscription-based car services, etc. All these business models are creating recurring revenue models by using autonomous vehicles.

Overall, autonomous vehicles are implementing mobility-as-a-service (MaaS). MaaS is also encouraging partnerships between car manufacturers and technology companies or transport service providers.

New Competitive Landscape

The development of autonomous vehicles is attracting technology companies and startups to automotive industry. Tech companies like Google, Apple, Tesla, and many more are investing heavily in autonomous vehicle technology for creating a new competitive landscape for traditional car manufacturers. Because of this, the traditional car manufacturers are facing a more competitive environment and trying to bring safe and reliable autonomous vehicles to the market.

Vehicle Design and Architecture Modifications

In autonomous vehicles, the needs for human intervention are minimized due to self-driving. Therefore, autonomous vehicle demands a transformed interior design to provide more comfort and features for productivity or entertainment.

Also, the autonomous vehicles are equipped with various advanced sensors and AI technologies, thus car manufacturers have to make necessary modifications in the vehicle design and architecture to optimize the placement of these sensors. This helps ensuring a reliable and safe operation.

Big Data Management

Autonomous vehicles use sensors and AI technologies and hence they generate a huge amount of data. This data is very crucial for enhancing self-driving algorithms, improving road safety, and optimizing the traffic flow on roads.

Regulatory bodies and infrastructure companies can use this big data to understand the driving patterns, traffic flows, and can innovate the ways to improve the road infrastructure.

Impact on Automotive Supply Chain and Manufacturing

Autonomous vehicles also have impacts on the supply chain. Car manufacturers need to collaborate with new suppliers for components used in autonomous vehicles like sensors, AI processors, cameras, etc.

Also, autonomous vehicle technology requires a manufacturing process different from the traditional one. In AV manufacturing, improved quality control and testing procedures are very important for ensuring desired reliability and safety of autonomous vehicles.

Regulatory and Safety Challenges

Autonomous vehicles also present complex regulatory and liability challenges. Therefore, governments and policymakers must work together to create standards and a legal framework to ensure the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles into public roads.

Automakers also need to work with policymakers to establish regulatory standards to govern safe AV operation, liability, safety testing, data privacy, and security while facilitating innovation.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we explained some of the key impacts of autonomous vehicles on car manufacturers and the automakers. The advancement in autonomous vehicle technology is reshaping the automotive industry by changing the business models, vehicle design, and partnerships for the car manufacturers. Lets move to the next chapter to learn about Levels of Autonomy in Driving.