Trends Dominating The Automotive Sector

Rakesh Biswal Jul 09, 2022

The automotive sector is seeing trends in various areas ranging from the manufacturing of the vehicles to their upkeep and scrappage of it. This has not only led to the manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles but has also led to the digitisation of the whole automobile industry.

In pursuit of reducing the carbon footprint, the OEMs have been exploring hybrid fuel-powered internal combustion engines to electric-driven vehicles powered by lithium batteries, hydrogen-powered fuel cells, and other different types of fuel cells.

The digitisation of the whole industry has led to a connected auto industry, where every stakeholder of this industry is connected with the other. This has helped stakeholders to transact with each other in terms of business or for information purposes.

Apart from the digitisation of this industry, technology has been playing a significant role in every aspect of mobility, right from vehicle purchase to vehicle usage.

Augmented reality and virtual reality-based solutions are picking up within the automotive industry where the customer is provided the provision to have a look and feel of the vehicle virtually before making a purchase decision. Similarly, the same technology finds its usage in training technicians in the garage/workshops where skilled manpower is a scarcity.

The external IoT devices like GPS devices, OBDs, etc have started giving way to inbuilt devices within the vehicle. These devices have been very helpful for collecting the vehicle health and driving parameters, which subsequently are analysed to provide predictive and prescriptive maintenance advice for the better upkeep of the vehicle.

The insurance companies dealing with automobiles have been moving towards usage-based insurance where the premium is decided based on the usage of the vehicle and the quality of usage is derived from the inbuilt devices and sensors mentioned earlier.

The same sensors are being used to devise safety features for the passengers where the alerts can be triggered if the driver is feeling drowsy or if the vehicle has developed a technical snag that needs to be fixed on an urgent basis.

The automotive industry has been working on a host of value-added services that are built on top of GPS devices to enhance the mobility experience of the drivers.

The automotive industry right now is deeply impacted by key technology trends like AI in form of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to create effective voice-based applications. Multi-lingual voice-based digital assistants will be the key feature in every sector of this industry.

Another trend being observed is in the ownership of the vehicle where people are moving towards leasing the vehicle rather than owning it. Leasing is at a very nascent stage in India but is projected to go up pretty soon.

As the world is on the cusp of switching over from ICE vehicles to EVs, more and more people are switching to the leasing of vehicles where the commitment towards ownership is less and the vehicle can be easily disposed of, once the switch to EVs becomes more affordable and hassle-free.

In a similar context, the sales of pre-owned passenger vehicles have increased and more and more people are purchasing pre-owned vehicles online, from the comforts of their homes. Post-Covid era has created a surge in demand for pre-owned vehicles which has led OEMs and other private players to capture this business.

There is significant research going on in the autonomous vehicle segment, but still, a lot is desired, as the vehicle is still to hit the roads.

Shared mobility is also picking up where more and more people look for sharing the vehicle in terms of carpooling, ride-sharing, etc. This has reduced the cost of ownership of the vehicle along with the carbon footprint.

Digitisation of the whole industry or the automotive ecosystem has enabled all stakeholders to tap onto a single platform for buying and selling a gamut of services ranging from RTO services, RSA services, selling and purchase of spares, paints lubricants, accessories, insurances, vehicles (both old and new), etc.

For the sake of the environment, reusability and recycling of vehicles and vehicle parts are gaining traction at a significant pace and the government of the day has also been encouraging the same. Governments have been encouraging the scrapping of old vehicles by providing various incentives, and technology has made it easier wherein the vehicle owner can get their vehicle scrapped at the click of a button.

The auto industry is gradually moving towards standardisation, but still, a lot is desired on this front. Though things are moving at a slower pace compared to other industries, nevertheless, it's moving in the right direction.

In near future, with the advent of EV, automobile manufacturing will get so much standardised that it will eventually become a software offering, with a standard body structure in place and that’s where we will see the Apples and Googles of the world getting into vehicle manufacturing, apart from the traditional automakers of the world like the Fords and Toyotas.