BERLIN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Self-driving technologies will transform the process of regular technical inspections for vehicles, the southern division of the German Technical Inspection Association (Tuev) told press on Tuesday.

Tuev South chief executive officer (CEO) Axel Stepken predicted that the cars of the future will be subject to permanent digital monitoring, reducing the need for physical inspections at fixed intervals.

Nevertheless, the number of individual tasks assumed by inspectors would not decline and could even grow as technicians would increasingly also assess whether digital sensors and other automotive software functioned correctly.

As a reaction to the challenges and opportunities of digitalization in general, Tuev South is developing a range of new business models, including a novel certification methodology to assess security standards at automated manufacturing sites (industry 4.0).

Additionally, the organization has acquired a stake in Uniscon GmbH, a company specializing in secure Cloud-computing solutions for data management.

"The availability of data and the trust in secure data exchanges are conditions for the digital economy to function and keep growing," Stepken noted.

He warned that many small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in particular were still poorly equipped to identify and defend themselves against cyber-crime.

Moving forward, Tuev South is confident that it can generate more growth in its business with a greater focus on themes like digitalization and cyber-security.

In 2017, the association recorded annual revenue of 2.4 billion euros (3 billion U.S. dollars), up 4 percent year on year, and profits of 139 million euros, up 6 percent.

The organization currently employs more than 24,000 staff in around 50 countries and regions.