Welcome to the first in a five-part series exploring the opportunities (and risks) for investors in the Auto Tech space. This first article lays the groundwork for the rest of the series by analysing where the automotive industry is focussing most of its innovation efforts.
Disruptive trends like vehicle autonomy and electrification are attracting the attention of investors more than ever before, as they promise to fundamentally transform the value chain and profit models within the automotive sector. While these major trends represent the face of cutting-edge mobility, beneath the surface there are dozens of related trends that will all play an important short-term or longer-term role in transforming how people move from A to B.
Understanding these trends (and how they are shaping mobility) can help in identifying new investment opportunities. SBD tracks over 150 Auto Tech innovation trends as part of its quarterly Innovation Guide, analysing their maturity and impact on the future of mobility. The interactive diagram below shows how we classify those trends:
As part of our research we track innovation initiatives at over 40 major car makers and tier-one suppliers to understand which of these trends are on the rise. We group companies based on whether they have already launched a product that relies on a given technology, or whether it is under development.
The chart below shows how the top-4 most focussed-on trends relate to interaction technologies (e.g. augmented reality), which reflects the rush to develop differentiating in-vehicle experiences that can in turn deliver greater brand-stickiness.
Beyond that we see critical enablers for Autonomous Vehicles high on the list, such as Deep Learning and Sensor Fusion. Virtually all car companies and suppliers have R&D initiatives dedicated to exploring and deploying new experiences that rely on these technologies.
At the other end of the spectrum we see early-stage innovation trends such as Brain Computing Interface and Advanced cryptography, where only a few companies are known to be actively developing solutions.
Understanding the innovation priorities of established car makers and tier-one suppliers can help investors pinpoint start-ups that hold potentially valuable IP. In this article we’ve highlighted what those priorities are. Join us next week when we’ll be exploring which major automotive companies are leading the innovation race, and what role start-ups are playing within their innovation strategies.