AutoNews (subscription required) recently reported on an IBM Automotive survey of 1,500 senior auto executives from 11 countries. About half of the executives polled felt a need to reinvent their company and change how business is accomplished to compete with the coming industry changes. Forty-two percent of that group believed these changes need to occur now. However, the poll highlights there are fifty-eight percent of auto industry leaders saying there is no need to reinvent their companies for a new industry landscape, or that there is an urgent need to do so now. These executives acknowledge that the industry is changing (vehicle ownership changes, electric vehicle growth, mobility initiatives, etc.). But they believe these changes will take decades to occur. IBM, however, is warning that slow moving auto companies might play less important roles in an industry that’s moving toward digital services. In fact the RethinkX Disruption Report from May 2017 by Tony Seba and Jame Arbil theorizes that by 2030, within 10 years of regulatory approval of autonomous vehicles, 95% of U.S. passenger miles traveled will be served by on-demand autonomous electric vehicles owned by fleets, not individuals, in a new business model called “transport- as-a-service.”
Automotive Laggards According to IBM
