You would think that the chip shortage and costs of technology transformation top the worry list for car-industry leaders, but there's a much bigger and scarier topic that's rarely spoken of in public.

Our industry is driven by advances in technology, and Autocar has charted them since 1895, fuelling the interest in people to follow automotive careers. But in the excitement of seeing new technology evolve, it's easy to forget that it's developed, delivered and maintained by skilled people, without whom it remains just a great idea or prototype.