The drive for innovation often hits speed bumps

“You can make an argument that innovation is a function of time, and you eventually come up with a better solution,” said Philipp Kampshoff, who leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility in the Americas. “It’s also a function of the resources you put up against it.”

Automakers and others have committed those resources, investing more than $530 billion across autonomous, connected, electrified and shared mobility technology since 2010, according to McKinsey’s figures.

But just 6 percent of that investment came from automakers, McKinsey said. The remainder came from venture capital, private equity and technology players. For those accustomed to working outside the automotive business, the speed at which the industry moves remains a frustration.

“Other sectors say, ‘Let’s go, this is fantastic, we want to own this space,’ ” said Russell Pullan, CEO of eLeapPower, a Canadian startup that showcased an integrated inverter that allows EVs to charge directly from the grid without an onboard charger and increases range. “Automotive says, ‘This is great, but have you done it for 15 years?’ ”