The trends in the automotive industry evolve due to the desire to solve lingering problems in fuel consumption, pollution, connectivity, safety, and convenience. Improvements in materials, information, and fuel technologies lead to increasing demands for seamless driving and transport systems.
The following are some of the ongoing trends in the industry:
Various companies initiated the concept of the driverless car by fitting vehicles with computers and sensors. Self-driving cars will remain in testing and employ safety officers for some time as they will need to overcome hurdles, such as left turns, traffic conditions, weather, regulations, and ethics.
As of 2022, car manufacturers have reached Level 4, which means that that the autonomous driving system (ADS) is reliable enough that the human driver does not need to pay attention. They will have to reach Level 5 before they can sell these self-driving vehicles to the public. At this level, the cars are expected to be capable of reacting to novel situations as well as or even better than a human driver.
Two of the major pioneers of this innovation – Ford and Volkswagen — have shut down development of their autonomous driving technologies, leaving General Motors’ Cruise and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo as the main players driving this initiative.
The trending cleaner fuel or alternative to carbon-based fuels include batteries, biofuels, hydrogen, or hybrid fuel (a combination of batteries and fuel).
Countries such as China, Germany, France, India, and Britain announced an end to the sale of fossil fuel cars between the years 2025 and 2040 while large automakers such as Volkswagen, Volvo, and Daimler reported that they would attempt to introduce more conventional gas-electric hybrids (HEVs), pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in gas-electric hybrids (PHEVs).
With consumers continuing to show eagerness in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle, statistics show that the US has already gone over the five percent tipping point for EV (Electric Vehicles) adoption, which indicates the start of mass adoption.
Solar cars use energy from the sun, which photovoltaic cells in the vehicle’s roof-panels convert to electricity. This electricity then powers either the battery in the car’s motor or is used to directly power an electric motor. Not only is solar energy free, but the solar panels are also quiet and don’t produce greenhouse gases.
Although most solar-powered cars have been mostly built for solar car races, the first commercial solar-powered cars are about to enter the European and U.S. markets in the next few years. This initiative is led by companies such as Sono Motors, Aptera Motors, and Lightyear.
Internet of things (IoT) or devices connected to computers are now increasingly used in cars to prevent human-caused accidents, generate analytics that are useful for businesses, and provide effective communication.
IoT can lower costs by predictive maintenance such as alerting a driver when the battery is low. It can also sense activities of the fuel pump, battery, and starter motor, and send real-time monitoring via email, link, and text.
Another use of the IoT technology is for data analytics, which will benefit actuaries and insurance companies that score drivers, the logistics industry that monitors fleets, and car owners who need to lower cost and optimize safety.
The mechanical engineering industry, in its automotive application, will face challenges as the market shifts to the use of driverless vehicles, cleaner and carbon-free fuel systems, and IoT-powered cars.
The challenges include innovating to cope with new automotive trends, using new methods and tools (software and robots), increasing the use of CAD (Computer-Aided Design), CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), and CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing), using 3D printing, and applying reliable plastic materials in engineering —all of which have a significant impact on the future of automotive and mechanical engineering.
With Nitrexo being a leader in the fields of thermal and mechanical engineering, it is poised to make major contributions to the resolution of the various challenges in the industry.
With its software application, the Digital Engineer®, engineers will be able to more quickly and efficiently run engineering processes, thereby facilitating the entire product development process. It also allows engineers to share information and knowledge with each other, which can lead to answers to many of the questions that the industry still faces.
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