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The automotive industry is presently confronting what could be its greatest transformation. This transformation is a crucial aspect of a digitally-enabled merging of social, industry, and technological forces about to ignite an outburst of innovation in the global transportation arena. Considering the sheer size of this industry, we can rightly say that it has the power to continue influencing the direction in which humanity will progress in future.

Technology-driven trends have always been revolutionizing the way in which automotive industry players react to the changing behavior of consumers, build partnerships, and bring about a change. Here are the top 5 emerging trends, which are transforming the automotive industry:

Autonomous Driving

This is undoubtedly the emerging trend that has been ruling the automotive field. Though self-driving technology is not prevalent on the streets, it is being experimented all over the globe. Autonomous driving will soon rule the streets as well, thanks to the collaboration between many advanced technologies.

From minimizing accidents caused due to drowsiness to letting drivers be more social with fellow passengers, the benefits of this technology are numerous. Ever since Google started experimenting with autonomous driving, this has been the topic of conversation in the field.

Connected Vehicles

We have been watching a lot of smart technologies making their way into automobiles. Connected vehicles will have the ability to share details about the driving conditions, such as sudden braking, speed, weather, and more. This is just the beginning of what we can refer to as Vehicle to Vehicle Communication (V2V) – a technology similar to Wi-Fi, which will gradually turn out to be a standard feature on almost every vehicle. This is why topics like car sensors, vehicle transmissions, and wireless communications have been in extensive discussion during the last few years.

Blockchain

The automotive industry has been confronting a lot of challenges over the last few years and one among these challenges is the increasing number of fake part sellers. Blockchain is a potential solution that is being explored to examine them first.

Eradicating the fake parts from the market can enhance transparency and result in very efficient pricing strategies. This technology can create an accurate, trusted protocol for the increasing important supply chain. Blockchain is an evolving automotive trend that is getting a lot of attention in the tech space and is giving rise to a lot of expectations.

3D Printing

3D printing is a technology that has been slowly invading almost every aspect of life and the automotive industry is no exception to this invasion. Presently, cars are being devised to endure 3-5 crashes and last for around 7-10 years. However, 3D printing can help in developing a vehicle on a solid chassis with its exterior body devised for single crash and replace just the outer body cost efficiently while retaining the chassis. This concept could bring about a revolutionary change in accident repairs. Making it highly cost-effective to develop things, 3D printing is all set to challenge the basic approach to car designing.

Increase in Electric Vehicles

It’s not surprising that there’s a gradual increase in the number of electric vehicles on the streets, and few years down the lane, more models will get into mass production. With the dwindling non-renewable energy crisis that the world is facing, a few manufacturers are reaping the advantages of possessing leadership in the electric car industry.

Several industry experts and professionals are forecasting that electric cars will soon become more cost-effective and popular than diesel and petrol models. Leading manufacturers like Volkswagen, General Motors, and Daimler AG have already entered this lucrative market. Though there’s a long way to go before we see a ubiquitous presence of these vehicles, these emerging trends certainly give an idea of where the automotive industry is heading out to.

The automotive industry is presently growing by leaps and bounds beyond the first conceptualized vehicle models that we saw in the late 19th century. With the above trends emerging at a fast pace, we are likely to see a lot more interesting things in the near future and an incredible transformation at breakneck speed. The future of this industry is quite exciting as we eagerly wait to see how far these emerging trends will develop.

Written by QuEST Global

on 29 Jan 2018