Level 4/5 autonomous driving will be possible in the next five years, says research

Growing consumer preference for convenience-enhancing technologies and automobiles-as-a-service options helped double the adoption of vehicles with automated driving features in 2016, says Frost & Sullivan’s mobility team. Going forward, large-scale investments from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will refine the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive cloud-based technology solutions even further, enabling level 4/5 autonomous driving within the next five years. Retrofitted automated driv
May 9, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Growing consumer preference for convenience-enhancing technologies and automobiles-as-a-service options helped double the adoption of vehicles with automated driving features in 2016, says 2097 Frost & Sullivan’s mobility team.


Going forward, large-scale investments from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will refine the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive cloud-based technology solutions even further, enabling level 4/5 autonomous driving within the next five years. Retrofitted automated driving solutions and deployment in shared mobility (taxi) platforms will experience robust growth.

“With the introduction of automated driving taxis to support shared mobility business models, the commercial entry of level 4 vehicles is expected by as early as 2020,” said mobility senior analyst Anirudh Venkitaraman. “In the European and North American markets, the introduction of level 3 automation by 2018, driven by over-the-air updates from 8534 Tesla, will strengthen the initial take rates for the technology. Pilot offerings from 2125 Audi, 1731 BMW, and Mercedes-Benz will soon follow, taking the product into the premium market.”

The report, Global Autonomous Driving Market Outlook 2017, finds that the global autonomous driving market will be worth US$83 billion by 2025. The study examines the top trends in the automated driving market, including developments like growing usage of driver assistance, new solutions, robot taxis, cognitive cloud computing, and adoption of mechanical light detection and ranging (LiDAR) for perception improvement.

“Concerns surrounding legislation, system reliability issues, and incompatible infrastructure limit the opportunities for OEMs looking at automated driving,” noted Venkitaraman. “Nevertheless, the journey from human-operated to completely autonomous cars is a progression, and pioneering semi-automated vehicles will be an important milestone toward achieving level 5 automated vehicles.”

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Commercial vehicle telematics market ‘to reach US$11.2 billion in 2014’
    January 20, 2014
    A new report from business information specialist Visiongain has assessed that the value of the global commercial vehicle telematics market will reach US$11.2 billion in 2014. Growth in this market is mainly driven by three factors. Firstly, increasing fuel prices accompanied by strong price competition in logistics create downward pressure on the profit margins of transportation companies and fleet operators and drive them to adopt telematics to sustain profitability and gain competitive advantage. S
    Read More
  • Continental calls for change in legal requirements for automated driving
    July 8, 2014
    International automotive supplier Continental has called for a market-based adaptation of the legal framework for automated driving, saying its Mobility Study 2013 has shown that motorists worldwide want automated driving on the freeway. “Their needs match up perfectly with the development possibilities in the upcoming years. However, the necessary adjustments to the traffic regulatory framework must not fail to take into account the connection with these market dynamics," said Continental head of resear
    Read More
  • Unmanned vehicles ‘to transform transportation within a few years’
    March 10, 2015
    According to new analysis from Frost and Sullivan, advances in sensor fusion technologies with high imaging capabilities to enhance manoeuvrability are quickening the development of unmanned vehicles. The resulting increase in the use of unmanned vehicles will eventually alter the dynamics of the transportation industry. The report, Innovations in Unmanned Vehicles–Land, Air, and Sea, finds that high-quality image and navigation sensors such as light detection and ranging systems, radar, and advanced global
    Read More
  • 5G or not 5G?
    April 16, 2019
    Just a few years ago, there was only one solution in terms of communications protocols for delivering vehicle connectivity. Now, road operators and vehicle manufacturers face choices – including a moral choice, perhaps. Jason Barnes looks at the current state of play There is a debate raging in the ITS world over future communications protocols. Asfinag, Austria’s national strategic road operator, has announced it will from 2020 be using ITS-G5 to support cooperative ITS (C-ITS) applications (‘First thin
    Read More

Highlighted Content