Ricardo, EU assess impacts of autonomous driving on Europe’s automotive industry

The automotive industry is one of the key sectors of Europe’s economy and its largest manufacturing industry, providing over 12 million direct and indirect jobs and representing about 5.6 percent of the EU workforce. It is also a leading source of technology development, giving rise to innovations that benefit many other sectors.  Despite its many successes, however, Europe’s auto industry is also subject to significant global drivers that may in future disrupt its established value chain and constituent business models, not least in terms of ‘mobility as a service’ innovations and autonomous/automated vehicle technologies. The incumbent players in the automotive industry – from tier 1 suppliers to automakers and their distributor networks – need not only to react but to proactively engage and manage these trends that might otherwise become disruptive threats for them.

In order to better understand the how the development of innovative and evolving technologies in the field of autonomous driving will affect the future of road transport in Europe, the EIAH has retained Ricardo Strategic Consulting to undertake a comprehensive study of the sector over a 6-month period. The research will assess the key technologies and dependencies, market demand drivers, future value chain scenarios and potential impacts of autonomous technologies over the decade to 2030. The research, which will be carried out by Ricardo working in cooperation with technical experts from the European Investment Bank and shared with the European Commission, with a view to enabling better identification of areas that would benefit support from European Investment Bank (EIB) products and resources as well as other EU financial support to complement and attract private sector finance.

“Ricardo is delighted to be working with EIB/EIAH to provide our expert insight into the future of road transport, socio-economic impacts and potential investments with increased adoption of autonomous driving and mobility services,” commented Mike Blyth, senior managing consultant for Ricardo. “We share EIB’s vision of improving quality of life through innovation and technology, and through this research we hope to help the Bank and the Commission to better identify and support opportunities that will deliver this.”