Electronics: The Innovation Driver of the Automotive Industry

Abstract

The industry is likely to witness more changes in the next decade than in the last 20 years, and the time to respond is now. The mix of markets driving the global automotive sales has changed yet again. Growth has shifted to markets such as the US, Western Europe and China, while the emerging markets have cooled off. And the pace of global vehicle sales growth is expected to slow over the next few years. Disruption has become the fundamental to the rapid evolution of the mobility ecosystem. Innovation is challenging established principles, from value proposition to cost drivers and product life cycles. Purchasing decisions made for each ride are influenced by factors including availability, comfort, ease of use, reliability ratings and pricing. Autonomous driving functions could not be realised without artificial intelligence. The computing power required for this is provided by chips that are specialised in parallel computing. Researchers are also working on new biologically inspired solutions and on quantum computers that promise even more computing power.