Theme III: Will Transition from L2.5 to L5 Autonomy be Linear or Exponential—Voice of Industry Thought Leaders

Frost & Sullivan organized the 13th edition of its flagship Intelligent Mobility Summit 2021 on July 14 and 15, 2021. The focus of the two-day virtual summit was “Intelligent Mobility: Innovating to Zero” with the spotlight on the Asia-Pacific region. This year, the Summit brought together a stellar group of industry thought leaders, policymakers, investors, and innovators. Over 25 panelists, each an expert in their domain, led insightful discussions on the dynamics underpinning the vision of “Innovating to Zero,” while over 2000 delegates, including automotive manufacturers and suppliers, fleet operators, logistics companies, mass transport authorities, research institutes, and mobility integrators actively participated in a curated lineup of webinars, panel discussions, and other online events. The online summit covered seven industry-defining themes. Theme III: Will Transition from L2.5 to L5 Autonomy be Linear or Exponential Following L1 and L2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), the ecosystem is set to push L2+ features in a linear way over L3. The incremental addition of autonomous driving (AD) features will give OEMs ample time to move to L4. Simultaneously, OEMs will reprioritize their strategies by rerouting capital investments and optimizing vehicle platforms and technologies through strategic partnerships. Meanwhile, OEMs are emphasizing digital value creation through in-house software stack development to gain competitive advantage, drive linear adoption of new AD technologies, ensure scalability for future updates, retain control, and generate new revenue streams. OEMs are also seeking exponential growth to L4 through robotaxi deployments. Cross-industry collaborations for robotaxi deployments will catalyze the transition from L2+ to L5. This session delved into the areas that would experience incremental, linear progress in AD features vs areas that would witness exponential development. Also covered in the session were emerging revenue sources associated with AD, the role of traditional OEMs, new age OEMs and tech companies in the changing ecosystem, and the impact of post-pandemic mobility preferences on AD ecosystem development.