Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the automotive industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked COVID-induced solutions for automotive.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top COVID-induced Solutions out of 111 impacting the Automotive Industry
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 111 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 automotive startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 106 COVID-induced automotive solutions, get in touch.
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Pedal provides a COVID-19 Hotspot Tracker
With spikes and troughs in infection cases, movement and travel restrictions vary in different administrative zones of a country. Drivers are often unable to keep up with the frequent changes and end up paying non-compliance fines. Often, drivers accidentally enter the restricted territory, making such situations avoidable. To keep the drivers up to date with all the rules and restrictions, car app developers install COVID hotspot trackers.
British startup Pedal develops a vehicle management platform that notifies drivers about COVID-19 restrictions in UK administrative zones. The startup’s hotspot tracking add-on displays up-to-date data on infection cases and color-codes tiers according to the severity of current restrictions. By providing the essential restriction information, the Pedal app helps prevent drivers from breaking the law and suffering financial losses.
Carzato offers Online Retailing Experience (ORE)
The COVID-19 lockdown forced a lot of automotive retail shops and showrooms to shut down. In order not to lose business, automotive dealers turned to online sales, which was an underdeveloped sector prior to the pandemic. In order to help the automotive industry, startups develop retail platforms for both click-and-collect purchases and fully online transactions.
US-based startup Carzato develops an ORE platform for dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) within the automotive industry. The platform provides clients with inventory information, payment and credit calculations, as well as trade-in valuations. It operates under the click-and-collect principle when clients pick their purchases online and finalize them at the dealership, providing automotive retail clients with a time-saving, round-the-clock showroom experience.
Sentiance advances Usage-based Car Insurance (UBI)
As many countries introduce lockdown measures to curb the infection spread, vehicle usage has significantly decreased. As a result, drivers, who no longer use their car very often, call for changes to their insurance policies. The drivers’ appeals, as well as the subsequent drop in car insurance sales, have accelerated the adoption of user-based car insurance solutions.
Sentiance is a Belgian startup developing UBI solutions for car insurance cost optimization. The startup stresses that insurance costs should primarily depend not on the concept of pay-as-you-drive (PAYD), but also account for the pay-how-you-drive (PHYD) principle. To this avail, the startup leverages AI to develop holistic driver profiling and trip analytics algorithms. The algorithms take into account the driving behavior, detect distracted driving, and analyze collisions in real-time. The startup’s UBI solution improves risk management and user engagement. It also provides a platform for personalized insurance offerings when driving habits suddenly change.
Optimus Ride specializes in Self-Driving Vehicle Systems
The growth in e-commerce during the pandemic increases the demand for self-driving vehicles for logistics and last-mile delivery. This puts pressure on automotive companies to advance automation technology and bring self-driving vehicles to the market. To meet the demand, startups and enterprises alike push towards level 5 automation and develop self-driving solutions.
US-based startup Optimus Ride works on self-driving vehicle systems for geofenced environments. The startup optimizes its systems for transportation and delivery in cities, industrial parks, airports, academic campuses, and residential communities. Following the pandemic outbreak, the startup has been using its autonomous vehicles for meal delivery for elderly communities and healthcare worker transportation.
Varjo offers Extended Reality (XR) Solutions
The development of new car design traditionally requires the attention of multiple specialists. Consequently, COVID19-related travel restrictions significantly impact the cooperation between international departments of car manufacturing companies. To mitigate the distance barriers, startups work on mixed reality (MR) solutions that enable real-scale concept visualization.
Finnish startup Varjo develops XR headset solutions for automotive design. The startup’s XR-3 solution extends the functionality of leading automotive visualization software Autodesk VRED, resulting in high design and cooperation efficiency. In particular, Varjo’s solutions allow designers to recreate photorealistic real-scale vehicle concepts, facilitating remote collaboration in pandemic circumstances.
Discover more Automotive Startups
Automotive startups, such as the examples highlighted in this report, focus on adapting automotive sales during COVID. From XR and autonomous driving to smart city solutions, all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the auto industry. However, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more COVID-induced technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Automotive Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
