In today’s ever changing Economy, triggered by development in new markets, the new technology is on rise and changing consumer preferences towards ownership. Digital Economy and innovative new business models have revolutionized all industries and Automotive industry is no exception. For automotive sector, these forces are giving rise to four disruptive technology-driven trends: autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity. In addition, we will also be covering a new market called micro mobility.
Autonomous driving
Fully-driverless tech is still at an advanced testing stage, but partially automated technology has been around for the last few years.
Lets take How Google car works
Using array of technology, the Google Car can read the road like a human, but these sensors come with their own limitations. Autonomous cars simply replace the human eye with a camera, leaving them vulnerable to extreme sunlight, weather or even defective traffic lights. In current autonomous cars, the way this selection of pixels is analysed could be the difference between a safe journey and death.
Despite their sophisticated systems, self-driving cars currently have no plan B for human road users. Human drivers are able to interact with each other and make allowances, but also make countless, small mistakes when driving – mistakes to which current self-driving cars simply can’t adapt. Although there was little that could be done to avoid the Google Car’s latest accident, it’s a stark reminder of autonomous technology’s biggest hurdle.
Connected Cars
Many believe a connection between cars and traffic infrastructure is needed to combat the shortcoming in fully autonomous vehicle. Car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication is essential for enabling autonomous driving. For example, as car approaches a red light, a system should tell the car that there is a red light. The easiest approach is to connect every car in every red lights so that data can be shared.
In the near future, expect to see vehicles communicating in real time with each other and with their environment via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) modules that are now emerging. The V2V function will reduce accidents, for example, by exchanging speed information and braking status, or alerting vehicles on a main road about other vehicles about to enter from a side road. V2V will also allow vehicle platooning, in which multiple closely spaced vehicles travel together in a high-speed convoy, a technique that yields significant fuel savings. V2I will enable features such as alerts about accidents or traffic congestion, including synchronization of signals to speed traffic flow.
Electrification
Stricter emission regulations, lower battery costs, widely available charging stations, and increasing consumer acceptance will create new and strong momentum for penetration of electrified vehicles (hybrid, plug-in, battery electric, and fuel cell) in the coming years.
Safety is a top priority in high-voltage designs. Preventing humans from exposure to dangerous voltages and currents is of paramount importance, of course, but other circuits must be protected against HV-related hazards such as overvoltage, overcurrent, power spikes, or electromagnetic noise.
Once the battery size has been fixed, the maximum range of an electric vehicle depends on its power consumption. A light foot on the throttle helps, but the electrical components must be designed for maximum energy efficiency, from the motor to the digital clock. This requirement potentially affects all aspects of component design.
Components must consume minimum power when operating and transition into a low-power “sleep” mode when not needed. Many more complex parts, such as ASICs and microcontrollers, can also shut down power-hungry functional blocks if they’re not used in a particular operation.
Micromobility
Car companies, scooter startups and analysts are trying to figure out how big the market is for micromobilty, a catch-all term for lightweight, electric transportation options like bikes and scooters.Nearly half of all vehicle trips in the United States are under three miles, according to the US government’s National Household Travel survey. Short trips are ideal for micro mobility, according to experts, whether it’s an electric bike, scooter, or a new option that hasn’t arrived yet.
Consumers are demanding more personalized options and the only way for car manufacturers to satisfy the consumer base is to make a lot of room for imagination and innovate.
The automobile has been replacing mechanical components with electrical ones almost since its inception. More recently, it’s also started adding networked communications, internet functionality, and driver assistance. Now the fully autonomous fully electric vehicle is coming into view. This transformation is equally revolutionary to the original transformation from Horse driven carriage to IC engine vehicles. The automotive industry is in cross roads and once these technologies complete their evolution, they will not be same again ultimately benefiting the consumer and providing the Ultimate travel machine for their safety and Comfort.
shivaathmajan is 14 yrs old cars and brand enthusiast. His passionate about the technology made him involved in knowing about the craftsmanship of the cars and engineering that goes into each vehicle
