I have long wondered about the partnerships auto component OEMs will make with the future fleet managers of automous vehicles.
BMW, Mercedes, VW, GM, Nissan-Renault have the traditional auto manufacturing skills except in truth they subcontract manufacture to OEMs and just assemble. And as vehicles simplify to three basic components they loose that differential skill to the leaders in each field: -
- Batteries
- Electric motors
- Autonomous driving Software
OEMs could become tomorrow's leaders consigning traditional auto manufacturers to niche markets. The software vendors could be the king-makers partnering with OEMs.
Several companies including Uber, Tesla Inc, Alphabet Inc, BlackBerry and traditional automakers such as General Motors have all been investing heavily in self-driving cars and technology. The potential combinations are endless.
Then as vehicle ownership declines, RideShare increases the power of Lyft, Uber et al maybe the dominant force. Jaguar Land Rover invests in Lyft, say Unipart joins and brings in Apple. Or Dyson, Unipart and Uber? How will this impact insurers who face new micro-insurance channels of distribution?
Platforms, ecosystems and the value of the data these powerful groupings will generate, analyse and use to dominate more. This is an intriguing prospect
Canadian automotive parts supplier Magna International Inc said on Wednesday it will invest $200 million in Lyft Inc and work with the U.S. ride-hailing firm to manufacture self-driving cars.
unknownx500
