Dive Brief:
- Since 2015, the Indeed job board has seen a 668% increase in searches for jobs linked to autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to data from the company.
- The San Jose, CA metro area has seen the most postings for jobs related to AVs, with more than 30% of the postings on Indeed. Detroit (28%), San Francisco (12%) and Pittsburgh (10%) were next on the list.
- The top two firms looking for AV jobs aren’t traditional automakers, but tech companies Aptiv and Nvidia. General Motors, Ford Motor Company and startup Nuro round out the top five.
Dive Insight:
The data shows how the future of the auto industry runs through the tech industry, as artificial intelligence and advanced computing will support AVs. Not only were the top firms looking for talent tech companies (Intel and Samsung were also in the top 10), but the Bay Area and Phoenix held three of the top five locations looking for talent.
Indeed also found that of the skills firms look for in AV-related postings, programming held six of the 10 most sought skills (Indeed counted different coding languages as separate skill postings). Image processing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning were also among the most sought-after skills, a departure from some of the traditional skills necessary for the auto industry.
The overlapping futures of the tech and auto industries has played out in recent partnership and investment activity. This week, Microsoft and Singapore’s ride-hailing service Grab reached a partnership on mobility projects. Toyota and Japanese tech giant SoftBank also recently partnered on autonomous driving technology, including fleet shuttles and business-focused vehicles.
The Indeed data also indicates where the industry is growing, amid competition among cities to become the next AV capital. While California and Detroit take the top spots, other new markets like Pittsburgh, Phoenix and Boston are high on the list, showing that tech companies and automakers alike are looking to new areas to foster AV technology.
