Self-driving cars ripping up an industry's supply chain

Washington

THE self-driving revolution has spurred the biggest two years of car-supplier takeovers in a decade, with more coming as parts makers struggle to keep up with technological transformation.

The total value of vehicle-supplier deals in 2015 and 2016 was US$74.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with each of those years far exceeding the US$17.7 billion annual average in the previous 10 years. The number of transactions valued at US$500 million or more also skyrocketed to 18 last year, triple the level of the previous decade. There have been 11 such deals so far this year.