Ireland – Helping industry connect the CAV dots!

I can’t believe it is over 3 months since I participated in an enlightening three days at the fifth edition of the Connected Vehicle 2020 conference. Innovative start-ups, automakers, software developers and technology companies came together to share insights on and discuss the transformation that is underway in the automotive industry across the globe.  I was enthused about the conversations had with senior business leaders who were aware of Ireland as the global technology hub of choice for next generation of business and technology for connected mobility.

Ireland has a holistic offering for businesses in the Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) space who are working on building the car of the future, also referred to as driverless cars. For global companies, large or small, with a strong innovative core, Ireland provides the right CAV ecosystem to thrive and succeed backed by strong government support in training and R&D.

A flexible, adaptable and young engineering workforce from across the EU coupled with the right Irish ecosystem provides the talent and skill base required to drive your CAV business to the lead in the new mobility revolution. The Irish digital, software and engineering technology sector is recognised internationally as being highly innovative, technically expert and commercially adaptable. Ireland boasts some of the best global research institutes specialising on key elements of the automotive industry and working in close collaboration with companies.

Not one to take its existing talent base for granted, Ireland ensures a steady supply of new skilled graduates, while introducing newer courses as per industry requirement, like the world’s first Master of Engineering in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles that was started in Ireland with inputs from leading automobile players like BMW, Continental AG amongst other industry players.

Ireland also boasts of an exceptional level of collaboration between industry, academia, state agencies and regulatory authorities. An added enticement is the funding available at all stages of RD&I from inception through applied research to commercialised research through grants and tax credits.

CAVs offer the potential to reduce 90% of collisions currently caused by human error. It is projected that by 2021, major automobile manufacturers including BMW, Volvo and Nissan would begin offering a line of driverless vehicles paving the way for autonomous vehicles to take over our roads! By 2030, autonomous vehicles are expected to be an $87 bn industry with 25% of traffic on the roads comprising autonomous vehicles.

India is the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world and with an increasing level of automation adoption, the Indian auto industry will be working to research, develop and manufacture products for the car of the future. Ireland offers Indian companies the right mix to nurture R&D in this space and increase India’s level of preparedness for autonomous vehicles, which is ranked 24 as per KPMG’s 2019 Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI).

Over the next five years, the drivers behind the growth in the global CAV market will be software and hardware services such as eCall, park/motorway assist, sign detection and infotainment services. Ireland today boasts of over 5,000 companies in the combined digital, ICT and financial services sectors. Be it hardware or software, encompassing telematics, semiconductors, cybersecurity, software engineers, light-weight composites for body parts, telecom for 5G connectivity, blockchain in fintech to develop new models of payment, incentives etc, test beds and more needed for a world of autonomous vehicles, Ireland has it all.

Known for being a hotbed of activity in autonomous vehicles, Ireland is today at the forefront of CAV technology development. This makes the country uniquely positioned to be the country of choice for new and existing Indian companies in the automotive sector as they seek to develop and commercialise Connected and Autonomous Vehicle technologies looking to make a mark in the global CAV market!

While I have thrown in a lot here, I will break these down into sub-sectors and share more in subsequent articles.