It is difficult to gauge the position of Tier 1 suppliers in the race for Level 5 autonomous vehicles (AVs). On one hand, they provide the vital hardware and software for vehicles to drive themselves and hold a solid footing among the rest of the competition. On the other hand, the integration and overall development of that autonomous system could be handled entirely by an automaker or start-up, limiting the role of the Tier 1 to a development partner or even simply a components provider.
Regardless of their role, the effort that Tier 1s are putting toward autonomous driving cannot be disputed. Continental AG received orders related to autonomous mobility worth more than €9bn (US$10.17bn) between 2018 and 2020 and
