Industrials and automotive

Autonomous cars and autonomous driving

Ever since the automobile was invented, humankind has been imagining what the car of the future would look like. From IP to data security, product liability and M&A, our lawyers share their insights on the self-driving revolution.

Design-wise, cars these days look as sleek and as comfortable as the futurologists predicted. But most new cars still move using the original automotive technology – the internal combustion engine.

What do we think the future car looks like? We’ll leave the designs of the future to the manufacturers. But we are confident that the future car will be electric, connected, autonomous and shared.

Of course, full autonomy is still some way off. But these are trends that reinforce each other. For example, autonomy and connectivity help realise the full potential of shared vehicles, while an electric vehicle – being more reliable than its combustion-driven cousin – encourages autonomy and places technology at the forefront of the (autonomous) driving experience.

In this survey, we look at how these four features are impacting deals and intellectual property rights in the automotive sector. We also examine the regulatory and risk landscapes, and what it means for the various business models that revolve around the car as it looks today.