(Engineering.com: Toronto, Ontario) -- The automotive industry ranks first place in digital transformation, according to a new report from ABI Research.

The sector scored a 3.7 out of 5 on ABI’s Digital Transformation Index, which assesses digital maturity across seven criteria, including robotics, manufacturing process, software, control, data management and analytics, connectivity, and worker enablement.

“There are massive differences in digital maturity and needs across companies and industries,” says Ryan Martin, ABI’s Industrial and Manufacturing Research Director, in a company press release.

ABI says that the automotive industry scored so highly because of the pressure to keep up in the face of an industrywide transition to new types of vehicles.

“An industry like automotive is going through tremendous change in the shift to electric and autonomous vehicles, which presents a unique opportunity for companies like Ford, GM, and Hyundai to completely revamp operations as new cohorts of suppliers join rising OEMs other than Tesla, including Rivian, Polestar, and Fisker,” says Martin.

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