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Experts Shine Light on the Bright Future of Auto Electronics
2007/09/20
The "2007 Taipei International Automotive Electronics Forum" was held from April 2-3 at the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) during the first two days of the Taipei International Auto Parts & Accessories Show (Taipei AMPA) and Taipei International Automobile Electronics Show (AutoTronics Taipei) 2007 to provide a unique venue where international experts and industry leaders could gather to discuss the current status and future trends of the booming automotive-electronics industry.
Discussions centered on three major themes, including Innovation and Integration; Growth and Niche Market; and Auto-Electronics Innovations & Development in Germany. In each theme, speakers from global automakers and tier-one parts suppliers, such as BMW, Audi, Nissan, Visteon, Infineon, Siemens VDO etc. as well as from local major automakers and top automotive-electronic suppliers, exchanged valuable insights, opinions, and latest developments in targeted fields.
Multimedia Growth
Kirk Kuo, technical fellow of Visteon Corp., talked about Innovations Drive Automotive Multimedia Business Growth. He said that some key factors are driving car-multimedia innovations including Functionality (from a 30+ year-old AM-only radio evolved to today`s AM, FM, DAB, HD, Satellite radio, CD, MP3, RDS, traffic info, weather into, and TV all-in-one device), Connectivity (from speakers and antenna to GPS, video, wireless Internet, Bluetooth etc.), Performance (from 4W X 2 amplifiers improved to 100+ W X 6, 10-band EQ, better reception, better EMC and Pb-free); and Cost (from AM/FM receiver in past three decades, to about a one-eighth reduction in material cost).
 | | Kirk Kuo, technical fellow of Visteon Corp. |
The car-multimedia trends, according to Kuo, include smaller electronics parts, more functions and larger human-machine interface (HMI); higher connectivity for hardware and software; IC technologies play the key role in hardware and software integration; more collaborations among competitors; and more consolidation in car multimedia business.
Automotive Innovations
In his speech on Semiconductors-Key Driving Force for Automotive Innovations, Claus Geisler, senior vice president and general manager of Infineon Technology AG, pointed to several trends, including that 90% of all automotive innovations are driven by electronics; more than 50% of the production value in electronics is semiconductors; a consolidation of the industry-shifts in the value chain from OEMs to suppliers; semiconductor solutions enable improved vehicle performance and fuel consumptions; emission (CO, Nox, HC, particulate etc.) challenge CO2 reduction; legislation forces CO2 reduction; complexity in system networks, sensing, computing, networks and actuation; and expected evolution of vehicle architecture.
 | | Claus Geisler, senior vice-president and general manager of Infineon |
For trends in automotive applications, the expert pointed out that safety application is one of the key driver towards integration to support enforced legal regulations; high integration is an enabler for new and sophisticated airbag systems; body controller modules (BCM) are defined by car architecture; semiconductors for any design philosophy; high functionality BCMs will move towards integration; SPOC (SPI power controlled body switch enabling optimized and decentralized solutions; light control module system integration and cost reduction; door semiconductor drives innovative solutions etc.
China: Springborad to Europe
Chung-Laing Chang, manager of development and local content at Audi AG, China, urged Taiwan to maintain a conducive, high-tech development environment so as to keep more talented professionals on the island. He pointed out that Taiwan can make use of mainland China as a springboard-first to work with Chinese automakers and then link to their foreign technical partners. But he suggested that Taiwan companies would be prudent to share core technologies in phases rather than at once to avoid being eventually taken over by Chinese companies.
 | | Chung-Laing Chang, manager of development and local content China, Audi |
With his experiences accumulated in the past 34 years in Germany, Chang proposed some of Audi`s core advantages he observed for local auto and parts makers, including the never-ending scientific-research inner drive, the R&D first policy, the accumulation and absorption of talented professionals, the overall environment for automotive research, and the overall automotive-industry atmosphere.
Consumer Electronics Meets Vehicle
 | | Jeff Zhou, vice president of Siemens VDO`s automotive division of infotainment solutions |
Jeff Zhou, vice president of Siemens VDO`s automotive division of infotainment solutions, shared his views on Consumer Electronics Meets Vehicle-saying that currently several major trends and challenges keep the industry buzzing, including the strong trends for connectivity technologies: increasing continuous request for data, information, and communication anywhere, anytime leading to ubiquitous communication; the digital entertainment: watching, recording, streaming, editing, etc.; the moves to the car: in-car links for mobile devices, mobile memory, Internet, and portable players; ubiquitous accessibility to Internet data and services; and wireless technologies underpinning the realization of seamless services and enhanced safety.
According to Zhou, in the future infotainment will be separated into entertainment and vehicle related functions, while the solutions to solving future challenges include Seamless Connectivity--combing mobile functions with perfect in-vehicle HMI; Always On--the availability of the world wide web as data source enables a wide range of web services; The Car-to-infrastructure and Car-to-Car Communication for traffic management and improved safety; Information is most rapidly accessible to drivers when it is multimode; and Integrated HMI concepts based on natural speech dialogue will manage complex functions.
Potential Business Opportunities
Tu Tze-chen, general director of Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK) of Industrial Technology Research Institute, said that there are several hot topics for the automotive-electronic line as their potential business opportunities, including the X-by-wire (steering by wire) system (which is expected to replace traditional heavy-weight steering systems by cutting parts number and vehicle weight); the advanced safety vehicle (ASV) with automatic-piloting function (require big-volume and technically matured image sensors and processors as well as mature computing techniques); the sensor fusion for intelligent control (greatly multiply the sensor-fusion applications); the power-supply `revolution`--from 12V to 42V power supply (for satisfying the power demand from increasing number of ECU, MCU, CPU etc.); a more unified on-vehicle communication network for vehicle nerve network is required; the electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) will be highly related to the successful electrical/machinery integration; the low-current device design is closely related to cutting costs of automotive-electronic products; and the system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology is important for freeing the circuit design and cutting costs.
 | | Tu Tze-chen, general director of IEK under ITRI |
Ideal Investment Target
Frank O`Brien, Asian-Pacific executive vice president at Magna International Inc., praised Taiwan for having several superior advantages, including rapid prototyping, solid industrial infrastructure in information and communication technology (ICT), and advanced production techniques, etc. O`Brien is investing resources in Taiwan as Magna is scheduled to set up one or two R&D centers on the island.
 | | Frank O`Brien, executive vice-president, Asia Pacific Region of Magna
International |
(by Quincy Liang)
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