The world industry is on a threshold of a new development cycle which is characterized by emergence of breakthrough technologies: distributed ledger technology, drone-type devices, 3D printing, virtual reality, Internet of things, augmented reality etc. Due to these technologies fundamental changes will take place in the majority of economic branches. The automotive industry is not an exception. This industry plays one of the key roles in economy in a great number of countries and changes occurring in it lead not only to creation of new products, technical processes but these changes also entail improvement of the industrial base which has been already created. The Republic of Belarus considers an automotive industry as one of key industries for its economy and its efficiency has a high dependency factor pertaining to speed of innovation emergence and implementation that is strategically important aspect of increase in competitiveness both on current sales markets and on potential ones. The paper pays a special attention to two main trends arising in the course of forming a new industrialization: increase in environmentally-friendly fuel systems and digital transformation. Problems of world ecology have exerted a considerable impact on developments in the field of alternative energy sources. Speed of development and promotion of electric vehicles considerably exceed “breakthrough” innovation developments of the past. However a great number of factors can have a significant effect on the future of electric vehicles and two of them are thoroughly considered in the paper: cost of energy (batteries) and price of oil (at the price of about 20 USD for barrel the development rate will considerably decrease). Besides the matter of environmental friendliness the paper pays attention to services of digital transformation. The world has already presented examples pertaining to usage of remote control for dump trucks, telematics etc. Such an approach makes it possible for organizations to optimize substantially an expenditure budget and doing so we increase resource use efficiency. The paper also contains a review of innovations in the automotive industry of the Republic of Belarus: BelGee electric cars, Belkommunmash electrobuses, developments of large industrial equipment.
Digital industry and manufacturing automation: impact on employment
