Suppliers will play a vital role in the development and commercialisation of autonomous vehicles (AVs). In some cases, they may act as a systems integrator for those with limited in-house capabilities. In other cases, manufacturers may simply pick certain elements from their portfolio, be it vision sensors, vital electronic components and self-driving software, or even artificial intelligence.

AV developers cannot go it alone in bringing these solutions to market, and will continue to lean on the advances made by suppliers behind the scenes. But how do the timelines proposed by suppliers marry up with the views from elsewhere in the industry?…