Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Market Size & Share Analysis - Trends, Drivers, Competitive Landscape, and Forecasts (2024 - 2030)

Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Market Trends & Drivers

Integration of AI in Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Is a Key Market Trend

• Artificial intelligence, in many ways, triggered the expansion of the automobile industry by enabling the development of level 4 and 5 autonomous commercial vehicles.
• The technology enabled the development of speech recognition, eye tracking, driver monitoring, virtual assistance, gesture recognition, and natural language interfaces, which are highly crucial for the proper functioning of autonomous commercial vehicles.
• AI has helped in the development of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), which include camera-based machine vision systems, driver condition evaluation systems, sensor fusion engine control units (ECUs), and radar-based detection units.
• The major reason for the development of AI was the existence of huge amounts of data. The collection of vehicular data has become easier due to the availability of connected devices and services.
• Additionally, deep learning technology is being increasingly deployed in AI devices. Presently, it is used for voice recognition, recommendation engines, image recognition, voice search, sentiment analysis, and motion detection in autonomous commercial vehicles.
• In addition, developers of AI autonomous driving solutions getting patents for their driving solutions. For instance, Cyngn Inc., a developer of AI-powered solutions for autonomous driving, announced the news of receiving a patent, US-11,851,074-B2, for driving solutions and autonomous vehicles (AV).
• This new patent offers more safety features in terms of conditions arising from AV driving operations and generates an alert when problems arise.

Need for an Efficient and Safe Driving Option Drives the Market

• The convincing promise that autonomous technology holds for safer performance and more efficient road traffic is the major reason behind attraction toward these vehicles, thereby driving the growth of the global autonomous commercial vehicle market.
• Road traffic, serious injuries, and deaths are some unacceptable and confounding outcomes of road transportation, and the primary cause of road crashes and accidents is human error.
• Several factors associated with human drivers; for instance, the failure to pay attention, inappropriate speed, and keeping an unsafe distance from the vehicle moving in front, are majorly responsible for road accidents.
• Thus, the support to the driver offered by semi-autonomous commercial vehicles via ADAS systems is the major factor boosting the market for these vehicles around the world.
• Major OEMs are now equipping their vehicle offerings with ADAS features such as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, anti-lock braking system, and automatic parking, to provide a safer driving option to operators, exhibiting promising growth prospects for the market.

Vulnerability to Hacking and Other Cyber Attacks May Hamper the Market

• An autonomous commercial vehicle is an example of a cyber-physical system, as it has elements of both the virtual and physical worlds, thereby resulting in the rise of security issues.
• This poses risks to the drivers of the autonomous commercial vehicle and also jeopardizes the integrity of the technologies used in such vehicles. This is a major restraint to the growth of the market across the world.
• A cyber-physical system is what an autonomous commercial vehicle is known for because it has elements in both the virtual and physical worlds. This results in the rise of security issues.
• Not only are there risks of traditional cyber-attacks on the vehicle and user’s stored personal information, but also of other issues such as vehicle theft or ransomware attacks.
• Further, there are security risks to the networks via which connected vehicles communicate, whether it is the financial networks that are used to make payments, electricity infrastructure, roadside sensor network, or traffic control features.
• The cybersecurity-related recall was the first of its kind in the automotive industry. Such serious threats are hampering the growth of the autonomous commercial vehicle market to a great extent.
• Another among the main factors restraining the growth of the global autonomous commercial market is the excessive cost involved in the manufacturing of such vehicles.
• The average cost of manufacturing a level 2 autonomous vehicle is more than USD 250,000, making it difficult for most manufacturers to focus on such vehicles.
• The vehicles are extremely innovative and technologically advanced, which is the primary reason for the higher cost. The advanced software, hardware, and technology involved in the creation and functioning of the vehicles make manufacturing a costly affair.
• This has also given rise to a scenario, wherein a lot of startup companies are entering the market and challenging the established companies by bringing advanced technology.

Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Industry Outlook

Vehicle Autonomy Insight

• The semi-autonomous category, under the vehicle autonomy segment, generated higher revenue in 2023. Vehicles should be equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) or at least one of the ADAS features (either for acceleration or steering) to achieve level 1 automation.
• The majority of European countries and the U.S. have mandated the adoption of basic ADAS features in all new commercial automobiles, which intrinsically makes all of them semi-autonomous.

Vehicle autonomy categories covered in the report include:

• Semi-Autonomous (Larger and Faster-Growing Market)
• Fully-Autonomous

Vehicle Type Insight

• The truck category accounted for the larger share in 2023, and it is expected to retain its dominance during 2024–2030 in the market.
• This can be due to the increasing usage of autonomous trucks for logistical operations, such as automated material handling, yard management, domestic logistics transportation, and logistics digitalization.

The following vehicle types are included in the report:

• Truck (Larger Category)
• Bus (Faster-Growing Category)

Application Analysis

• The public transportation category, within the application segment of the market for autonomous commercial vehicles, will grow at the highest CAGR of 8.7% in the near future.
• This can be attributed to the surging adoption of autonomous shuttle services for public mobility purposes.
• Several start-ups and established companies are coming up with plans to develop level 5 autonomous shuttles for public transportation. These shuttles would not require human drivers for operation, which would help transportation agencies save on operational costs.

Applications covered in the report are:

• Logistics (Largest Category)
• Public Transportation (Fastest-Growing Category)
• Construction
• Others

Regional Insight

• Geographically, the North American region generated the highest revenue in the autonomous commercial vehicle market, and it is expected to maintain its dominance in the future.
• This is due to the spurring of research and development (R&D) activities on autonomous vehicles and burgeoning support from the federal and state governments for improving autonomous driving technologies.
• Moreover, the U.S. will continue to hold the leading position in the regional market for autonomous commercial vehicles.
• This is primarily ascribed to the presence of the prosperous trucking industry in the country. This industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economy and provides employment to millions of people.
• Further, according to American Trucking Associations, trucks are responsible for transporting around 80% of the country’s domestic freight. The trucking industry generated revenue of around $940 billion in 2022.
• Thus, the huge trucking sector in the nation is generating lucrative opportunities to undergo technological innovation.
• Whereas, the APAC market is expected to register the highest growth rate of 8.8% during the forecast period. This can be because APAC is the world’s largest automobile producer, accounting for nearly half of the yearly production.
• The global dominance of this region acts as a catalyst for the autonomous commercial vehicle market growth.
• Additionally, the region is home to many leading automobile giants, such as SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., Toyota Motor Corp., and Hyundai Motor Co.

Further, regions and countries analyzed for this report include:

• North America (Largest Regional Market)
  • U.S. (Larger Country Market)
  • Canada (Faster-Growing Country Market)
• Europe 
  • Germany
  • U.K.
  • France (Largest Country Market)
  • Italy
  • Spain (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific (APAC) (Fastest-Growing Regional Market)
  • China (Largest Country Market)
  • Japan
  • India (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Rest of APAC
• Latin America (LATAM)
  • Brazil (Largest Country Market)
  •  Mexico (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Rest of LATAM
• Middle East and Africa (MEA)
  • Saudi Arabia (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • South Africa
  • U.A.E. (Largest Country Market)
  • Rest of MEA

Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Market Share

The increasing demand for efficient and safe driving option, increasing R&D activities for the development of autonomous vehicles, and support from federal and state governments for the evolution of autonomous driving technologies are the major factors fuelling the growth. Companies are focusing on different type of technology to invade the market. 

Autonomous Commercial Vehicle Industry News

• In June 2023, TuSimple, a self-driving truck company, started testing of its driverless truck on an expressway in China.
• In Jube 2023, Ashok Leyland partnered up with Aidrivers to manufacture autonomous electric terminal trucks to direct the net zero emission requirement of the port industry.