New report: opportunities in development of software for the automotive sector
25 March 2025
New report highlights significant opportunities for the UK to lead in the innovation and development of software for the automotive sector
- The UK’s automotive software market is poised for rapid growth, projected to double from £1.05 billion in 2023 to £2.04 billion by 2028
- A major economic opportunity for the UK to lead in automotive software innovation
- Software and control systems are key parts of delivering efficiency, circularity and sustainability
The latest insight report produced by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) puts the spotlight firmly on the exponential rise in innovation of software applications for the automotive sector. The report details the continued rise of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs) and what this means for the sector including the significant economic opportunities it poses for the UK.
Software is now a key part of the automotive industry. Five years ago, a vehicle rolling off the assembly line had around 100 million lines of code, today that figure is between 150-200 million lines, by 2030 it is projected this figure will be upwards of anything from 300 to 600 million. In just 3 years, it is likely the UK will see the software market grow from a current £1.05 billion to £2.04 billion.
This growth brings with it significant opportunities for the UK automotive industry to play to its globally renowned strengths of impactful innovation and R&D investment. It is imperative that software development and the move to SDVs are integrated into the UK’s automotive strategy, alongside other emerging, fast-growth areas of including artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security.
The report highlights the role software and SDVs play as a cross-over point for net-zero technologies and Connected Automated Mobility (CAM), with SDVs playing an important part in the transition to Connected, Autonomous /Automated, Shared, Electrified mobility.
Julian Hetherington, Automotive Transformation Director at the APC, commented:
“The importance of continued software development and integration should not be underestimated. It is fast becoming the driver of a fundamental shift across the entire vehicle life cycle. Vehicle performance and health-monitoring through its lifetime, and at end-of-life, is a key enabler for more sustainable design to support the circular economy rather than simply aiming to reduce tailpipe emissions.
“We are keen to foster a culture of sharing the value-add from data analytics that Tier 1s begin to uncover as SDVs become more prevalent and generate more insight. Cascading these findings down the supply chain will give us visibility of what is required to meet upcoming regulatory requirements, help develop an understanding of the software controls that need embedding and generate a transparent bill of materials (BOM) and origin of content. This will enable export opportunities and provide the UK automotive sector with clarity on areas to focus investment to generate real impact and to develop localised capability.”
The insight provides evidence of the latest trends and drivers for integration of software and control system to enable net zero across the automotive industry. It also offers a number of key recommendations for focus that include the creation of a software roadmap detailing powertrain needs and mapping out investment, a commercialisation plan, collaboration and partnership development between UK technology developers and auto makers, onshoring, scale-up, upskilling and training.
Dr Hadi Moztarzadeh, the APC’s Head of Technology Trends whose team spearheaded the report, adds:
“We are working to support the automotive industry with our expert insights and funding streams, with a focus on encouraging and facilitating collaboration between industry, academia and government. Investment into software development and digital infrastructure, and workforce upskilling in software engineering is key to strengthening our domestic capabilities in software and control systems to ensure vehicle efficiency, as well as global competitiveness.
“The UK has a fantastic opportunity to combine the strength of the digital network with the automotive industry to be at the forefront of the global transition to safer, smarter, and more sustainable automotive and mobility solutions. We are keen to support a focus on software at the design and integration stages to enable a truly circular life cycle approach, offering end-to-end data visibility of vehicle efficiency.”