Automotive Industry Trends
November 2004
Rise in Electronic Components
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According to a recent article in the industry publication, “Automotive News,” electronics will compromise up to 40% of a car’s cost by 2010. Right now, that figure is at 25%. This rise in electronic components directly impacts the auto sensor supply market, as auto sensors are used to support electronic innovations. As a result, the market for auto sensors is expected to rise to $4.6 billion by 2007.
With car sales flat, electronics innovations are one way that automakers try to drive demand for new vehicles. The same is true for auto suppliers. As the demand for mechanical parts flatten, suppliers are forced to move into electronics to secure a chunk of the business in supplying automakers.
The car of today is differentiated mainly by the software that controls it. Typically, vehicles have as many as 80 motors and approximately 25 sensors, with over one MB of memory in the engine control system. This will grow to two MB in just a few years. No part of a vehicle is untouched by electronics, which controls an array of systems from powertrain, lighting, antilock brakes and airbag systems. The list of potential uses for electronics grows, from expanded navigation to safety and infotainment services. But, electronics are not necessarily new to vehicles – in fact, they’ve been part of every new car built since the 1970’s.
Randy Frank, a consultant to the automotive industry as well as a contributing editor to Ward’s Auto Electronics, dates the pivotal year for auto electronics to 1974, the first year of the Convergence Conference. At the time, Frank says, the only electronics in a car were the radio, the alternator (diodes) and the voltage regulator that controlled the alternator. But, with the growth in computer technologies, the industry believed that these technologies would play a large role in new car manufacturing as time went on. Convergence, which celebrated its 30-year anniversary this year, was aptly named as two industries – electronics and automotive – came together to develop automotive innovations with electronics.
Frank has spent more than 30 years in the field of automotive electronics, and has tracked how the focus of innovation has migrated to different vehicle systems:
- 1970’s: introduction of electronics for engine controls
- 1980’s: antilock braking introduced
- Early 1990’s: airbags become standard
- Late 1990’s: rapid expansion of body electronics – seat motors (body computers), instrument panel lighting, auto locking systems and keyless entry
- 2000’s, to date: infotainment, including sophisticated audio and video; signals sent via satellite (such as the OnStar System); GPS and mapping capabilities; satellite radio
Even with their existing pervasive presence, Frank notes that there are still many opportunities to expand electronics use in vehicles. Some of the possibilities include:
- Expanded entertainment systems and navigation aids, especially intuitive features that reduce distractions for drivers
- Mechanical systems (such as transmissions, engines and stability), monitored and regulated by sensors and electronic controls incorporated into the design
- Refining display systems
- Electronic throttle controls to regulate the throttle based on driver requirements
- Image sensor chips to monitor various conditions, including driver alertness and how other vehicles are driving, embedded into the surface of cars
As the use of electronic components rises, the cost to produce vehicles will go down, because less mechanical parts will need to be assembled. Innovations will also offer automakers more opportunities to provide different features to distinguish their vehicles from each other, carving out new market niches in the changing consumer automobile market