Software Defined Vehicle: growth and value creation opportunities for the UK
File(s)
Author(s)
Taiber, Joachim
Shorten, Robert
Masen, Marc
Steward, Nigel
Type
Report
Abstract
The automotive sector is an economically important
sector for the UK, generating over £85.4 billion annual
turnover and supporting about 830 000 jobs [1]. 77%
of the cars made in the UK are exported [2]. However,
this sector is susceptible to competition and technology
disruption, particularly from Chinese OEMs (Original
Equipment Manufacturer) who are aggressively entering
the European market, and from US fleet operators that
are targeting the fully automated transportation fleets
sector. While the technologies underpinning these
disruptive forces, such as electrification, autonomy and
connected cars, have been mostly developed outside of
the UK, contemporary technology developments arising
from Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) offer economic
opportunities that the UK is particularly well placed to
exploit. Our objective in this brief report is to examine
the readiness of the UK to embrace this opportunity,
and to map a potential sectoral strategy to catalyse
this opportunity. Specifically, this report considers the
impact of SDV on automotive sector value creation,
the key building blocks of an SDV economy, and how
UK stakeholders can be utilised to exploit the SDV
transformation.
sector for the UK, generating over £85.4 billion annual
turnover and supporting about 830 000 jobs [1]. 77%
of the cars made in the UK are exported [2]. However,
this sector is susceptible to competition and technology
disruption, particularly from Chinese OEMs (Original
Equipment Manufacturer) who are aggressively entering
the European market, and from US fleet operators that
are targeting the fully automated transportation fleets
sector. While the technologies underpinning these
disruptive forces, such as electrification, autonomy and
connected cars, have been mostly developed outside of
the UK, contemporary technology developments arising
from Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) offer economic
opportunities that the UK is particularly well placed to
exploit. Our objective in this brief report is to examine
the readiness of the UK to embrace this opportunity,
and to map a potential sectoral strategy to catalyse
this opportunity. Specifically, this report considers the
impact of SDV on automotive sector value creation,
the key building blocks of an SDV economy, and how
UK stakeholders can be utilised to exploit the SDV
transformation.
Date Issued
2026-11-02
Citation
Software Defined Vehicle: growth and value creation opportunities for the UK, 2026
Journal / Book Title
Software Defined Vehicle: growth and value creation opportunities for the UK
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Subjects
automotive
CSEP
growth
SDV
sector
UK