The future of automotive

When you consider the pace of acceleration in technology over the last century, I always wonder what some of the early pioneers would make of it today. Would Louis Pasteur look aghast at keyhole surgery? What would Alan Turing make of the processing power of the modern-day laptop? And what would Karl Benz make of today’s automobiles? His 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first automobile, used the Benz 954cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine and was capable of 670W of power – equating to an eye watering 0.9bhp.A far cry from what rolls off today’s production lines, and a key part of that has been the growth in electronics technology within the car. Indeed, it is predicated that by 2030, 50% of the total cost of a car’s production will be its electronics.This podcast discusses the findings of the roundtable.