Can AI fill the Automotive Skills Gap? A Needs Assessment of the UK Automotive Industry

The UK’s automotive and manufacturing industries are at a pivotal time. These sectors remain central to the nation’s economic strength, with the automotive industry alone contributing £37 billion to the economy in 2023, with estimated employment figures of approximately 760,000 individuals. However, a persistent and growing skills shortage threatens to erode the UK's global competitiveness and deter further investment into the sector. As of early 2024, the scale of the workforce shortage challenge looked stark, with estimates of approximately 23,000 unfilled vacancies in the UK automotive sector, the largest skills gap from across all of the UK’s manufacturing sub-sectors. This deficit is significantly impacting the UK economy, and has been estimated to be costing the sector between £7.7 and £8.3 billion annually in lost economic output.

Beyond immediate operational constraints, these workforce gaps jeopardise the UK’s aspirations to lead in the development of electric vehicles (EV’s), automation, and clean energy technologies. However, the rapid pace of technological change has also led to widespread misunderstandings about AI and its implications for the workforce. Using a needs assessment approach (interviews, workshops, and surveys with automotive industry professionals), a preliminary map of the most pressing skills gaps, including professionals attitudes, needs, challenges and perceived risks of AI use in the automotive industry is presented in this report.

The report explores broader barriers to AI adoption, including issues related to digital literacy, infrastructure, and workforce readiness. It also emphasises the importance of building a workforce that is diverse by ensuing all pathways into the industry are inclusive by design. Diverse backgrounds, experiences and skills are required if the UK’s industry wishes to remain as a global leader across all aspects of automotive research, design and innovation, and ensure it’s long-term sustainability and growth against competitive overseas markets.

The research underpinning this report was conducted by a dedicated team at Coventry University and was commissioned by the Advanced Propulsion Centre, UK (APC).