Avnet turns to autonomous driving car market for growth

Major equipment suppliers for autonomous driving cars are vying for the electronic component market, which will reach an estimated $150 billion by 2030, and Arizona-headquartered US firm Avnet is one of them.

The number of electronic parts and components used in a car has seen a huge increase in the past decade, as their combined value per car surged from 20 yuan ($3.17) to 30 yuan 10 years ago to 400-500 yuan currently, said Frederick Fu, president of Avnet Asia-Pacific, a leading global distributor of electronic components and technology solutions provider.

"The ongoing driverless trend is going to create a bigger electronic components market than that in the smartphone sector," Fu said.

According to Fu, electronic components will be widely applied in a car's control system, dashboard, entertainment system and air-conditioner, as well as the future driverless system.

"It is projected that by 2030, there will be 150 million autonomous cars driving in the world, which means a $150 billion market is forming for electronic component distributors like Avnet. Every company in the industry would try their best to seize the market opportunity."

According to Navigant Research, 120 million autonomous cars will be sold from 2020 to 2035.

To adapt to the new trend, Avnet, after four years of research and development, has launched an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) tailored for the China market.

"The system is designed to be applicable and affordable for all cars. Next year, cars sold in China will be possibly carrying our system, as mass production will kick off in early 2019," Fu said.

The system is expected to become more sophisticated and wide-ranging and will move up through defined levels of autonomy toward the "ultimate destination" of fully autonomous driving in the future, Fu added.

The global automotive electronics market is forecast to grow significantly over the coming years. In particular, the market value of entertainment, body electronics and advanced driver assistance systems will expand to about $150 billion in 2020, according to Fu.

"The self-driving car will not only offer a completely new driving experience, but also change the entire automotive industry. ... The goal is to let driving ... become safer, easier and more enjoyable with the ADAS system," he said.

Since its design center specialized for automotive and industrial application was established in Shanghai 15 years ago, the automotive sector has now grown into Avnet's second largest business in China, and Fu believed the sector will continue to expand.

From August 2014 to June 2017, some $76 billion has been invested in autonomous vehicles, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. Investment not only comes from major automakers such as Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford Motor, but also from high-tech players such as Intel, Apple and Baidu.