Navigating the Self-driving Cars Future: OEM Strategic Imperatives Through 2035

Published Date : 27 October 2025

Posted by : Sanya Mehra

The transport sector worldwide is experiencing a paradigm shift. As the global fleet of vehicles continues to increase, the pressing need for safer, more efficient solutions to mobility is also increasing. The severity of this matter is sharply highlighted by the latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), which states that approximately 1.19 million individuals lose their lives annually due to road traffic accidents. The unfortunate incidents snowball, such that they put a heavy economic burden, especially in low- and middle-income nations (LMICs), where more than 90% of such deaths take place. The WHO has been a long-time advocate of an active approach encompassing the SAVE LIVES technical package, an integrated pro forma for governments and companies to deal with key areas like speed management, road vehicle safety standards, and road infrastructure design.

But with challenges comes unprecedented opportunity. The pursuit of safer roads is driving a technology revolution, with autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars at the forefront. Once the domain of science fiction, AVs are now highly verifiable and an increasingly present reality, and for OEMs, a new frontier of innovation, expansion, and leadership. The question is no longer whether Avs will go mainstream, but rather how OEMs can position themselves strategically to take advantage of this revolutionary trend by the end of 2025.

What Constitutes a Self-Driving Car Today?

A self-driving vehicle, or autonomous or driverless vehicle, is a complex wonder of modern technology. It combines advanced artificial intelligence (AI), a suite of sensors (such as LiDAR, radar, and cameras), and advanced software to travel and move on public roads with little or no human intervention.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) offers the globally accepted standard for comprehending this technology, with a classification that scales from Level 0 (completely manual) to Level 5 (completely autonomous). A joint work by SAE and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in May 2022 has further articulated these definitions, providing clearer distinctions, particularly between the crucial shifts from Level 2 to Level 3.

For consumers, the shift from one driver-assistance capability like adaptive cruise control to genuine autonomy is most profound. Although current state-of-the-art systems are generally classified as Level 2, such as Tesla’s Autopilot and GM’s Super Cruise, the industry is about to experience a dramatic ramping of Level 3 and Level 4 vehicles. This transition represents the stage at which the vehicle begins to perform the dynamic driving task, and the human driver can divert his or her attention, a massive step in the driving experience.

Recent Worldwide Initiatives and Regulatory Advancements

Regulatory bodies and governments globally are working together to establish the legal and ethical framework needed to facilitate the large-scale deployment of autonomous cars. This new version is generating a conducive situation for public embracing and innovation.

• United Kingdom: In a historic move, the UK enacted the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, an all-encompassing act of legislation that establishes separate legal obligations on producers and users.
• United States: The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) persists in encouraging cooperation, drawing from the Automated Vehicle 4.0 (AV 4.0) plan’s Principles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) takes a leadership role in ensuring safety through mandates for thorough crash reports from manufacturers and voluntary data submission encouragement for public openness via the AV TEST initiative.
• Europe: The European Commission (EU) is also acting quickly, introducing fresh regulations under the Vehicle General Safety Regulation to enhance road safety and enable the legal operation of fully driverless vehicles across the EU.
• Asia Pacific: Asia Pacific is quickly emerging as a world leader in AV installation. Japan, for instance, is on the verge of legalizing Level 4 autonomous cars on public roads. In China, the nation is strongly promoting self-driving technology in the online ride-hailing market, and Beijing has come up with new regulatory policies to help speed the adoption of AVs in commercial transport.

The Power of Strategic Partnership

The road to complete autonomy is too complicated for any one company to travel alone. OEMs are catching on and are increasingly entering into strategic partnerships with the tech giants, combining the potent synergy of automotive know-how and software innovation.

One of the most notable recent partnerships is the strategic agreement between Toyota Motor Corporation and Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s commercial autonomous vehicle unit. Announced in April 2025, this collaboration is centered on accelerating the innovation of autonomous driving technologies for both ride-hailing applications and personally owned vehicles. It serves as a strong example of how an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) can leverage the expertise of an established autonomous driving leader to integrate next-level capabilities into its future mobility offerings.

Another intriguing collaboration is between self-driving truck firm PlusAI and Goodyear that took place in August 2025. This partnership will make autonomous trucks perform better by combining Goodyear’s smart tire technology, which generates real-time information about tire condition and road surfaces, with PlusAI’s virtual driver system.

The strategic imperative for OEMs

For OEMs, the future of autonomous vehicles is not a passive movement to witness, but an active imperative to embrace. It involves a transformation from a conventional manufacturer to a mobility solution provider that takes an enterprising, multi-dimensional approach.

• Integrate Software-Defined Vehicle: The future car is a software platform on wheels.  OEMs need to spend heavily on software development, AI, and data analytics to develop and sustain their autonomous driving system or integrate those of partners effectively.
• Target Specific Segments of Markets: Passenger vehicles are one prime segment, but one can also target commercial applications. The logistics and last-mile delivery segments are early adopters of autonomous vehicles that provide a new revenue and penetration stream.
• Ensure safety and Public Confidence: Consumer acceptance is the greatest success factor of AVs. OEMs have to collaborate with regulators to guarantee the highest standards of safety and communicate openly to instill confidence among consumers. That is where the compliance with standards from players such as SAE and ISO become not merely a regulatory issue, but a marketing point.

Conclusion

Self-driving car makers and other firms involved in these technologies will undoubtedly have a number of growth prospects by the end of 2025. With all of the research and development that has been done on self-driving technology over the years, there is still more work to be done in the smart mobility solution. Manufacturers of self-driving vehicles are anticipated to achieve unprecedented success with the cooperation of the government, industry groups, and regulatory agencies. Additionally, automakers are turning their attention from the passenger market to the commercial market, which is anticipated to create a number of investment possibilities for commercial ventures.  Overall, it is not very difficult for traditional automakers to switch to producing autonomous vehicles. Even though the industry is becoming more competitive, OEMs can still overtake their rivals by developing a daring plan and putting it into action as soon as possible without losing out on any more possibilities.