India is expected to be the world's third-largest automotive market in terms of volume by 2026 and is currently valued at $118 bn. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Indian auto industry has shown immense resilience and is facing the challenges posed by the pandemic head-on. The government is also taking adequate initiatives to boost the auto industry by offering product-linked incentives, scrappage policy etc. Manav Kapur, Executive Director, Steelbird International, delves into the automotive sector rapidly integrating technologies in the coming future.

The automobile sector has seen a drastic change over the past few years with electrified, autonomous, shared, and connected cars. Technological advancement has changed our perspective of visualising things. The transformation of the automotive sector will be driven largely by the youngsters and technically savvy generations. They would play an important role in driving the transformation of the automotive industry. While talking about technology, these are some of the trends that we will witness in the coming five years;

Electric Vehicle
EV market has shown dynamic growth over the years and will achieve a tipping point in the coming five years. The Delhi government has also started Switch Delhi Campaign and taken multiple initiatives to create awareness about the benefits of electric vehicles. The transition to emissions-free individual mobility could only be possible because of the electrification of the vehicle. Electric vehicles will account for about 10 per cent of new vehicle sales by 2025. EV sales, excluding E-rickshaws in India witnessed a growth of 20 per cent and reached 1.56 lakh units in FY20 driven by two-wheelers. Amongst all regions in India, Uttar Pradesh continues to have maximum monthy registered EV sales with 22 per cent of overall sales in India in April 2021 as per JMK Research.

Autonomous/ Driverless Car
The exponential progress made in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep neural networks makes it possible to achieve what until seemed utopian – namely the development of driverless/ autonomous car. It requires no human intervention even in complex traffic situations. The global autonomous cars market is expected to grow from $719.94 bn in 2020 to 809.15 bn in 2021 at CAGR of 12.4 per cent as per the Global Autonomous Cars Market report. India is going to see a chunk of this action accordingly.

Autonomous driving is an eventuality, of course, where the vehicle is capable of sensing its environment and operating without any human involvement. But it comes with its own set of challenges.

Connected cars
When everything is connected via the internet, then why can’t cars? Cars are becoming smarter and integration of smart technology has been gaining popularity over the past few years. Just like your smartphones, you will get a new look screen, new apps and entertainment content updated from time to time. They can assess the requirement of the driver and passengers through sensors embedded into the vehicle. Smart cars can protect us from danger and can also help in finding a great meal, or a place to rest or recommend our favourite songs during our journey. This is one technology which has been evolving fast.

Car sharing
For the past few years, carpool, car rentals had started picking up in India but the pandemic has introduced an unexpected complication in the car-sharing facilities. But as the COVID-19 is controlled and India enters the next phase of normalcy, we expect that the car-sharing facility will return to its former strength.

The development of electrified, autonomous, connected, and shared technology will lead to a clear increase in the rate of innovation within the automotive industry. These technologies can help save the environment, create jobs, and bring thousands of new products to the market. All these hypotheses suggest that this will lead the way to a consumer-centric marketplace and driving will become easier, safer, cheaper, and more comfortable. At the same time, the transformation in individual mobility will force the automotive industry to reinvent itself to a large extent. Younger and tech-savvy people will play a significant role in driving the development towards more sustainable and convenient mobility solutions in future.