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A vehicle should have three attributes for it to be completely autonomous: advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies, and certain wireless technologies of the infotainment system. As the degree of autonomy of vehicles continues to grow, the number of electronic control units (ECUs) and domain control units (DCUs) incorporated into vehicles will accelerate at a geometric rate. Validating the performance of ECUs and DCUs individually can significantly enhance costs while reducing time to market. Instead, automotive OEMs rely on testing methodologies such as hardware-in-the-loop (HIL); HIL simulates real-world traffic in the lab environment and validates the performance of software embedded inside the ECUs and DCUs against the stimuli. In addition, as data traffic increases, automotive OEMs are incorporating Ethernet technology in place of conventional bus technologies such as controller area network (CAN), local interconnect network (LIN), and FlexRay.

To validate the Ethernet technology that is incorporated into the automobile, OEMs across the automotive supply chain are leveraging Ethernet testing capabilities, which have had a high degree of success in the telecom industry for testing their proprietary automotive Ethernet technology. To validate the electric vehicle (EV), automotive OEMs require solutions that can validate the battery technology, invertor technology, and components of the electric powertrain.

In addition to testing the aforementioned components of the EV, well-established OEMs are trying to replicate ultra-fast charging technologies that were developed by Tesla. Participants of the automotive ecosystem would require a special type of power electronics that, in conjunction with simulation solutions such as HIL, can efficiently test the performance of the energy unit of the EV. The present automotive ecosystem typically comprises those that are well established and the start-ups. While the start-up community is growing at a rapid pace and has a higher degree of technology innovation associated with it, it is hampered by its inability to scale as efficiently as its well-established counterparts. Third-party service providers that offer testing and certification will prove to be invaluable for the start-up community by providing them not only with testing services but also with critical information on access into international markets. This research will take an in-depth look into important market trends that are likely to influence the autonomous car and EV market and their effect on the test and measurement industry. Regional-level market analysis is done and important growth opportunities that the test and measurement community could capitalize upon are evaluated.