Study: The automotive industry remains a driver of innovation

Study: The automotive industry remains a driver of innovation

“Even though the economic situation remains tense due to the pandemic, it is clear that the automotive industry continues to rely on innovation,” says Wolfgang Bernhart, partner at Roland Berger. “The four big trends – new mobility concepts, autonomous driving, digital technologies and electrification – continue to dominate.” The current study shows that consumers are becoming increasingly fond of electric cars and that the regulatory framework in many countries is enabling more comprehensive tests for autonomous driving. “On ours new website “We pull together the historical data since the beginning of 2017 and can thus draw conclusions about future developments,” says Bernhart.

E-mobility is picking up

The study shows a significant increase in sales of electric vehicles in most countries: the share of fully electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in total vehicle sales averaged 4.7 percent in 2020. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of almost two percent (2019: 2.9 percent). In 2017, when the first ADR publication appeared, the proportion of electric cars was still a low 1.5 percent. 

Autonomous driving is important

The number of patents relating to autonomous driving is continually increasing: while the share of all driving technology patents was 1.3 percent in 2015, it was 4.7 percent last year. "The technological progress in the field of autonomous driving is remarkable, as the steady increase in patents shows. The idea of ​​autonomous vehicles roaming the roads is slowly but surely taking shape," says Stefan Riederle, automotive expert at Roland Berger and co-initiator of the ADR platform.

You can read the full study here download.