Key takeaways
- Proprietary smart car systems hinder interoperability, creating challenges in car software integration.
- Digitally-driven vehicle sharing and autonomous driving are becoming crucial for future automotive markets.
- Despite advancements, innovation in self-driving technology has largely been dominated by proprietary solutions.
- Emerging open-source platforms are beginning to transform the landscape of autonomous driving and ride-hailing software.
There is a multitude of proprietary smart car systems working separately instead of running in parallel, which impedes interoperability of car software. Will Open Source help bridge this gap?
With cellphones, GPS-powered apps and now 5G making on-request transport simple and wildly popular, it has become easy to bring down the expenses and make ride-sharing more convenient. Ridesharing and ride-hailing applications like Ola and Uber coordinate you and others heading off to a similar spot simultaneously at the hit of a button. Then there are auto manufacturers like Tesla which are creating software for their cars that makes self-driving easier by the day.
Digitally-empowered vehicle sharing and autonomous driving are set to turn into a key driver of development and benefit in tomorrow's auto markets, far overwhelming the profitability of conventional automakers. Even though self-driving cars and ride-sharing apps have become the norm, such innovation is one quickly developing technology that hasn't been impacted by open source. For example, the majority of the current self-driving vehicles, including those from Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, Uber, and Google, ride on proprietary innovation.
However, that is slowly changing as new entrants in the market are open-sourcing autonomous driving and ride-hailing software. This way, new platforms are helping both end consumers and other companies in the segment to benefit and create value.
