Dimensional Research conducted the automotive survey, "The Data Center on Wheels," which polled 519 qualified participants in engineering, research and development, manufacturing, innovation, or strategy roles at automotive companies and their suppliers, including Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive parts suppliers and contract manufacturers. Participants from 30 countries were asked questions to determine which digital technologies are having the greatest impact in this segment, as well as the most significant obstacles hindering the implementation of advanced vehicle architectures and seamlessly integrated driving experiences. Key findings include:
● 94% of respondents agree that digital technologies create opportunities for vehicle architectures and driving experiences, and that they will require greater cooperation among stakeholders
● In less than five years, digital technologies will enable new standard features in vehicles, including user interfaces via mobile applications (50%), streaming of movies and television (47%), remote enabling of new/complementary functions (46%), subscription pricing models for key functions (46%), advanced driver assistance system (45%), as well as software updates via wireless transmission (43%).
● 27% of respondents believe that half of all new vehicles sold within the next 10 years will be Level IV autonomous, while 18% believe it will take up to 30 years for Level V to reach that milestone. Connectivity has the greatest impact. According to 45% of respondents, in-car connectivity has had the greatest impact on vehicle architectures and driving experiences over the past five years, followed by data storage systems (43%) and cloud computing (43%).
Over the next five years, immersive UX/UI (39%) and external vehicle connectivity (32%), encompassing 5G and V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communications, are poised to have the greatest impact. Despite the growing role of connectivity, there was no consensus on the main connectivity challenges, which included bandwidth (32%), quality of service (28%), coverage (24%), and latency (16%). Obstacles to progress: The biggest obstacles to developing a mobile data center, as identified by respondents, were, in order, cybersecurity (54%), software quality (41%), functional security (36%), connecting vehicles to the cloud (29%), and data storage and analytics (28%).
More than two-thirds of respondents believe that software will cause more technological problems than hardware, while more than half agreed that new services are needed across the entire software ecosystem, encompassing operating systems, artificial intelligence models, functional safety information, and more. Respondents also identified critical issues associated with the automotive sector that could slow adoption, such as consumer fear of autonomous driving (43%), insufficient external investment in 5G charging stations and antennas (37%), limited understanding of the potential among automotive company leaders (36%), and data privacy (34%).
Supply chain shortages are also expected to impact the delivery of next-generation vehicles, led by battery availability and chemistry (47%), semiconductor chips (45%), sensors (42%), conductor assemblies and cables (40%), and connectors (38%). Expanding Partner Ecosystems: As automakers incorporate new digital capabilities and technologies into their vehicles, they will need to expand their existing partner ecosystems.
More than half of the survey participants will turn to consumer technology companies (e.g., Apple, Google, etc.), cloud providers (Amazon/AWS, Microsoft, etc.), and vendors with a specific focus on digital technology for automotive assistance in enabling new capabilities. Nearly all respondents agree that fulfilling the promise of a mobile data center requires greater cooperation among OEMs, vendors, and sub-vendors.
