Tariffs Just One Challenge Driving the Connected Automotive Ecosystem

This IDC Perspective highlights the impact of tariff on the connected automotive ecosystem. The disruptive tariff situation is forcing the global, interconnected automotive industry to rethink strategies while growth of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) continues, and new digital tech such as AI evolves to include predictive, generative, and agentic capability."Automotive ecosystem partners are working together to develop equitable business models and approaches to alleviate tariff cost impact and reduce the risk to consumers of vehicle price increase and availability declines," said Jeff Hojlo, research vice president, Industry Ecosystems and Business Networks at IDC. "Concurrently, the automotive industry continues to face other monumental structural shifts, all of which could be impacted by tariffs: the expansion of SDVs, growth of EVs, and the ongoing digital talent shortages and lack of new workers entering the industry."