Over the last 100 years, the automobile has become integrated in a fundamental
way into the broader economy. A broad and deep ecosystem has emerged, and
critical components of this ecosystem include insurance, after-market services,
automobile retail sales, automobile lending, energy suppliers (e.g., gas
stations), medical services, advertising, lawyers, banking, public planners, and
law enforcement. These components - which together represent almost $2 trillion
of the U.S. economy - are in equilibrium based on the current capabilities of
automotive technology. However, the advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and
technologies like electrification have the potential to significantly disrupt
the automotive ecosystem. The critical cog governing the rate and pace of this
shift is the management of the test and verification of AVs.
In this SAE EDGE™ report, six senior industry leaders in the impacted ecosystems
essay articles which describe sectors of the current automotive ecosystem and
the manner in which AV technology can potentially reshape them - providing a
mosaic of the massive infrastructure shifts which will be required to absorb AV
technologies.
NOTE: SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key
issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the
mobility industry. The goal of SAE EDGE™ Research Reports is to stimulate
discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of
identified issues. SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are not intended to resolve the
issues they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny.