Carmakers are increasingly talking to different industry sectors, governments and organisations, moving beyond their traditional tier one suppliers as connected and autonomous cars become a reality.

Graham Hoare, global director, vehicle evaluation and verification at Ford, told the SMMTConnect conference in London infrastructure is an important issue as driverless vehicles take to the roads.

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He said: “We are now talking to many more people beyond our traditional tier ones and building relationships with many new people dealing with infrastructure such as city planners, telecommunications, internet companies and these all move at different clock speeds so that is a challenge.”

The UK government’s transport minister Robert Goodwill added: “the autonomous car is not just about vehicles, it’s about roads and parking and the government is investing GBP150m (US$225m) in highways research into issues such as these.”

Driverless cars are also an issue for the insurance industry which will have to look at accident liability in the future.

John Leech, UK head of automotive at KPMG, said: “Our research has so far shown that current laws are sufficient to determine liability whether personal or manufacturing defect. As we towards a situation where a car can drive itself, with control occasionally taken back by the driver, then we might need more clarity.”

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Minister Goodwill added: “The technology is aimed at making driving and cars safer and the insurance industry is keen to see this and so reduce premiums. We need to move quickly; for example, I would like to see autonomous braking systems introduced right across vehicle ranges. This is a safety issue that could reduce accidents and therefore premiums but insurance companies currently have no way of tracking which vehicle in a range is equipped with the technology.”