By Tian DuBelko
Recent advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence means we are closer than ever to having self-driving cars. But why all this fuss for automation? What’s the driving force (no pun intended) behind making these autonomous vehicles? Whether it’s carmakers, tech giants, or emerging startups, there is a $7 trillion reason to go after self-driving cars, according to Intel.
In a recently released study, Intel says that self-driving cars could be a $7 trillion industry by 2050. In fact, the study suggests that companies who don’t take the future of autonomous vehicles seriously could risk failure and bankruptcy. Not only will autonomous cars be around for the for foreseeable future, it’s also slated to be a very profitable industry.
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Strategy Analytics, who prepared the study, predicts that self-driving vehicles could scale from $800 billion in 2035 to $7 trillion by 2050. The study also predicts that over half a million deaths could be prevented by autonomous cars in just a decade.
Intel referred to our future of automated vehicles as the “passenger economy.” The “passenger economy” also factors in the value of services and products that come as a side effect of self-driving cars. This includes indirect savings such as time.
Obviously, this isn’t the first report to try and predict the future of autonomous vehicles. However, Intel’s study does offer a few interesting insights into the future of this potential trillion-dollar industry. Intel’s study thinks that through a combination of densely populated cities, traffic congestion and regulation, as well as the rise of on-demand ridesharing and vehicle-sharing services will all contribute to a growing future of self-driving cars.
