New Milestones In The Autonomous Vehicle Space
2021 is proving to be a thriving year for the autonomous vehicle technology market with an increase in demand for virtually all types of autonomous vehicles. From commercial trucks to ride share vehicles, last-mile goods delivery, and driverless shuttles, the market is hungry for fully autonomous vehicles. This trend is as strong as ever with massive continuing spending by autonomous vehicle companies despite the untimely interference of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, even with the pandemic’s ongoing impact the autonomous vehicle market is expected to have a CAGR as high as 47% through 2026 and is expected to grow by at least $1.43 billion each year.
Leaders in the market are recognizable to most consumers – Tesla, with their addition of a full self-driving feature as a subscription directly catering to the mass market; Walmart, with the commencement of their driverless delivery operations in their hometown; Amazon, with their purchase of Zoox to facilitate a collaborative design of autonomous ride-hailing vehicles; and Waymo, with the launch of Waymo One — a pioneer autonomous driverless vehicle available in the app for general public use, have been at the forefront of this year’s booming AV industry. But well-funded startups like Cruise, Aurora, and Argo are coming to market quickly with their own solutions, often in partnership with OEMs.
A key area that has been lacking for autonomous vehicles is government regulation. But this, too, is now changing as states pick up the slack left by the federal government and launch their own autonomous vehicle rules. For example, the state of New York has made proposed changes specifically attributed to self-driving car companies that would require them to apply for and receive $5,000 permits from the city’s Department of Transportation (DoT).
At present, the market opportunity for autonomous vehicles is massive since this technology stands to upend nearly the entire transportation sector. Despite the slew of SPAC launches by autonomous vehicle companies like Aurora and the general consolidation in the sector with the acquisition of both Uber’s and Lyft’s self-driving units, investment and spending really haven’t slowed. And while it will be some time before true Level 4 autonomy is available in retail vehicles for consumers, renewed focus among autonomous vehicle companies on heavy duty trucking and ride hailing is poised to replace hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US alone.
The growing interest in autonomous vehicles in the past years has been nothing short of amazing. The combination of increased safety on roads, cheaper transport costs for both goods and people, and massive time savings for people who no longer have to drive is simply too powerful to ignore. As governments work through their regulatory frameworks and autonomous hardware and software technology advances and becomes cheaper, we are rapidly approaching a future with ubiquitous autonomous vehicles. To learn more about how autonomous vehicle consultants in Los Angeles can help ready your business for this ever-evolving industry, contact us today.
