Future challenges in development and deployment of autonomous vehicles

Abstract

The race towards autonomously driving vehicles has already, and will continue to, have large effect on the automotive industry. This Master's thesis is a study that aims to identify the challenges that the automotive industry faces in the transformation towards producing and deploying autonomous vehicles. It also aims to identify similarities and differences between the stakeholder in the industry. The insights gained can be used as input to stakeholders in the industry for strategic decision making regarding what focus areas to consider in this transition towards autonomous transport solutions. Interviews were conducted with a wide range of stakeholder in the industry to get a larger scope on the result and possibility to compare relevant information. Literatures studies was conducted prior to the interviews to build a foundation of knowledge and identify research questions. Topics that were addressed during the interviews were: (1) General information and future thoughts, (2) testing methods, (3) data collection and storage, (4) safety, and (5) communication possibilities. The stakeholders that participated in the interviews were: one university research laboratory, one research organisation, one strategic innovation program, one consultancy company, two OEMs and two testing service providers. From the interviews conducted, it can be argued that the challenges are many and it is uncertain what challenges will be the hardest to overcome. The two government organisations claim that the biggest hindrance will be the safety of the technology and the testing service organisations claim that the regulations and laws will be the biggest hindrance. Multiple interviewees brought up the problems of having different regulations and road infrastructure in different countries. All stakeholder agrees that more collaboration, increased transparency and new mythologies for testing and verification will be needed in the future for the technology of autonomous vehicles to be successfully developed and deployed. The OEMs will have a hard task in finding the balance between; sharing information and technology to increase the speed and reduce the cost of the development; and finding unique solutions that creates great customer value in their products compared to competitors. Another challenge for autonomous vehicles is the one related to responsibility. This will in the end be a problem that the government or international regulators will have to address, just as the one with data ownership. It can be argued governments will play a major role in the future that will shape the way the development of autonomous vehicles will continue.