The automotive industry is relying on cooperation with startups — this is shown by a study by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
Since 2011, 316 million US dollars have flowed into 127 German automotive startups. Startups worldwide raised approximately 16.3 billion US dollars in the first half of 2016 alone, more than in the entire previous year (16.1 billion US dollars). Automakers, IT companies like Apple, and investment banks invested particularly heavily in mobility startups.
The boom in investments is also reflected in the number of new companies: According to the study authors, more than 1,000 automotive start-ups have been founded worldwide since 2000. Andreas Nienhaus by Oliver Wyman calculates:
“On average, one mobility startup was founded every week.”
One of the reasons for the increasing startup involvement, according to Nienhaus, is that automakers tend to be rather clumsily organized. The startup spirit isn't reflected internally.
“Car manufacturers are therefore more likely to invest in young companies than to develop the topics internally,”
says Nienhaus. Collaborations with startups could also help car companies improve their own innovation culture.
Potential for mobility services, problems with quality assurance
The study sees particular potential in the mobility services segment and predicts that revenues there will triple worldwide by 2025. 60% of all German automotive startups fall into this category.
The study authors expect the greatest difficulties in the collaboration between startups and car companies to be in quality assurance:
"If an app crashes, customers today grudgingly accept it. However, if the navigation system in the car stops working for a few minutes, that's unacceptable."
This doesn't mention any software issues with assistance systems or even fully autonomous cars. The quality standards here are, of course, significantly higher.
