The automotive industry is driving innovation and global technological advancement. As a result, today’s automobile represents the most sophisticated technology owned by most consumers. From the early stages of planning, automakers design new vehicles with a range of diverse technologies that meet customer needs for comfort, convenience, and safety while improving performance and energy efficiency. Virtually every aspect of the modern automobile is now high-tech, using state-of-the-art materials and processes that rely on highly skilled workers.
How Automakers are Driving Innovation
Policy Roadmap To Advance Automated Vehicle Innovation
Auto Innovators has released a comprehensive roadmap to guide federal government policies that can advance the testing and deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) in the United States.
Investing for the Future
Research & Development
Automakers invested more than $125 billion globally on research and development in 2018, ranking the auto industry ahead of other technology-driven industries, including the software/internet industry and the entire global aerospace and defense industry.
Among the Most Innovative Companies
Innovation has always been important in the automotive sector, and that focus on new technologies and product features is growing. A recent Boston Consulting Group report documents how automakers have increasingly vied with technology companies for top ranking in their annual survey of the most innovative companies.
Leading Patent Recipients
Annually, 3-5 percent of all patents in the U.S. are awarded to auto companies, with about 5,000 patents granted each year. To find other high-tech hallmarks of the auto industry, download this report from the Center for Automotive Research.
Investing for the Future
Research & Development
Automakers invested more than $125 billion globally on research and development in 2018, ranking the auto industry ahead of other technology-driven industries, including the software/internet industry and the entire global aerospace and defense industry.
Among the Most Innovative Companies
Innovation has always been important in the automotive sector, and that focus on new technologies and product features is growing. A recent Boston Consulting Group report documents how automakers have increasingly vied with technology companies for top ranking in their annual survey of the most innovative companies.
Leading Patent Recipients
Annually, 3-5 percent of all patents in the U.S. are awarded to auto companies, with about 5,000 patents granted each year. To find other high-tech hallmarks of the auto industry, download this report from the Center for Automotive Research.
How Innovation Gets to Market
An automobile purchased today is the product of years of R&D and investments. Typically, it takes five years or more for a technology or a new model vehicle to go from design to testing, from production to sale.
Connected Vehicles
When the car moves from being a closed box to a “mobile device” with the ability to communicate, that is a “Connected Car.”
Automated Vehicles
Vehicle automation on the road today—such as adaptive cruise control, dynamic brake support, and automatic emergency braking—is already bringing safety benefits.
Cybersecurity
Automakers are working proactively to address the complexities and challenges of an increasingly connected and interconnected automotive ecosystem.
Automotive Privacy
Protecting Connected Consumer Data
To prepare for an increasingly interconnected future, automakers are anticipating and acting to address the complexities and challenges that the future may bring.