Around
1.4 million people lose their lives each year due to road accidents, and almost
50 million more people suffer from serious injuries that result in disability,
as reported by the World Health Organization. Not only do these injuries cause
losses to individuals, they also affect families and nations as a whole. Loss
of productivity occurs due to disability of the injured as well as engagement
of family members, who take out time to care for the injured. It has been reported
that road accidents cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product.
Taking
Germany as a specific example, in 2018, more than 3,200 people were killed due
to road crashes, which was approximately 2.7% higher than last year, as per the
Federal Statistical Office. Majority of these accidents are attributed to human
errors, such as the failure to pay attention on the road while driving, keeping
unsafe distance from the vehicle in front, and inappropriate speed. To tackle
these, the need for autonomous vehicles is being felt in the country, where
systems such as anti-lock braking system, automatic emergency braking, advanced
driver-assistance system (ADAS), and adaptive cruise control help drivers journey
safely.
A
study conducted by P&S Intelligence has predicted the German autonomous vehicles market for fully autonomous variants to grow to $28.0 billion in
the near future, witnessing a 20.2% CAGR. An autonomous vehicle is able to
drive itself from one point to another without any human interference, in an
auto-pilot mode. This is done using
different technologies, such as adaptive cruise control, global positioning
system, and radar and lasers, for precise maneuvering on the roads. Autonomous
vehicles are primarily of two types — fully and semi-autonomous. In 2018, only the
semi-autonomous vehicles were bought, as even though fully autonomous vehicles
are in demand, they are still in the development and testing phases and are
expected to be available for public use in the coming years, when they would
witness the faster growth in demand.
Autonomous
vehicles are of the following types, considering what they use as fuel —
battery electric vehicle (BEV), internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, and
hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). Of these, the ICE type were in the highest
demand in the past. These vehicles use combustion engines to generate
propulsion power and run on fossil fuels, such as gasoline, diesel, and
compressed natural gas. However, in the coming time, BEVs are expected to
witness the fastest growth in demand due to the growing environmental concerns,
stringent vehicular emission norms, and government support to popularize
electric vehicles. Further, the growing research and development activities in
this domain would continue to add to the demand for battery electric autonomous vehicles in the coming future.
