变革渐入“深水区” 外资零部件企业加速布局国内

From a gradual entrance, foreign auto suppliers accelerate plans in China during a critical phase

Even as the scale of China's automobile market has continuously expanded year-by-year, there is still vast room for further growth of automobile ownership in China. The importance of China in the global automobile market is constantly highlighted. In the past few years, a large number of foreign suppliers have initiated a new round of strategic initiatives in China on the basis of technological growth. In particular, with the launch of regulations by the Chinese government for new-energy vehicles and autonomous driving, a strategic focus on technology becomes critical for international players to expand within the Chinese market.

For example, in April 2017, Bosch established cooperation with Baidu, AutoNavi and NavInfo  to promote the development of China's autonomous vehicles;  In July, Faurecia and Dongfeng Motor signed an agreement to jointly establish a joint venture in area of new-energy and intelligent vehicles. In August, ZF and Beijing Automotive Group subsidiary Haina Chuan prepared the establishment of electric vehicle joint venture. In the same month, Huayu Automotive announced a signing of a joint venture agreement with Magna to jointly develop electric drive system. These all highlight the importance that overseas suppliers place on the Chinese market.

Dura chief technology officer, Sanjay Singh speaks on mobility evolution during the 2017 International Connected Vehicle Forum.

Dura Automotive Systems is no exception. “There are currently three major attractions for the development of China's automobile industry: the rapid growth in overall vehicle purchases, the fast pace of electric vehicle development and the velocity at which autonomous vehicles are projected to be introduced. China's government supports a strategic move toward electrification and vehicle intelligence. Dura also has strategic interest in these areas and they are aligned perfectly with our advanced technologies for lightweighting, electrification, and automated driving solutions," said Sanjay Singh, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Dura Automotive Systems. The company joined in an exclusive interview with Gasgoo at the second China International Intelligent Connected Vehicle Forum. Dura, headquartered in the United States, will further increase its presence in the China market, building on its existing R&D center and manufacturing operations in Shanghai, along with its latest new factory in Gaoyou. The company plans to help China's automobile industry to accelerate toward electrification and intelligent driving systems, with Dura's established technologies along five main pillars:

Lightweighting, Amalgamated Mechatronics, Design Aesthetics, Advanced Mobility & Active Safety, and HMI & Infotainment Fusion.

A DURA shifter HMI with embedded biometric security validation

In Sanjay Singh's view, in addition to the company’s proven reputation in traditional vehicle technologies, DURA has played a meaningful role in vehicle electrification.  "We have three generations of electronic shifters in mass production. Meanwhile, we have mature and proven lightweight technologies that can be used in design of ultra-lightweight body structures for car makers. This same technology can also be applied to chassis and suspension systems, to boost the range of new energy vehicles. Our most recent developments in lightweight battery trays even incorporate embedded sensor control modules, which could be used for early detection and prevention of EV battery failure modes to improve safety and reliability.

"The technologies employed by vehicle electrification and lightweighting are indispensable for the future of autonomous vehicles. Taking lightweighting as an example, it is well-known that vehicle sharing and the need for extended range operation will be important to autonomous vehicles of the future. This also means that the vehicle energy consumption must be as low as possible to achieve a higher overall profitability for fleet operators and consumers. Our lightweight technology can enhance the performance of autonomous vehicles in terms of energy efficiency and overall range.”

In addition, for self-driving, Sanjay Singh disclosed that the company has designed software and hardware including human-machine interfaces, neural network algorithms, sensor fusion, and has made scalable, high-performance ADAS control modules which integrate software, vision systems and ranging sensors, such as the 360 ° vision system and L0-L3 ADAS systems.

Gasgoo has learned that DURA's 360 ° Surround View System ensures driving safety with advanced image processing and real-time video monitoring of pedestrians and moving objects. The system is powered by four high-performance cameras and incorporates fast visual algorithms to seamlessly stitch time-critical image information and eliminate visual blind spots around vehicles. For ADAS systems, Dura's innovative solutions incorporate many decision-making algorithms for situational awareness to enable autonomous driving on freeways and urban roads, as well as fully automated parking.

Dura’s AVA highly automated driving control module interfaces with sensors such as cameras, radar and lidar for dynamic sensor fusion.

"Specifically, our centralized ADAS system is already capable of AEB, FCW, LDW, LKA, BSD, MOD, ACC, etc.," turning to specific progress, stated Sanjay Singh. In the future, Dura will further integrate 3D maps into its ADAS solutions to achieve higher levels of safety and automation through sensor fusion. The HD maps represent another redundant system to achieve more accurate environmental information. "We plan to continue developments of our L3-L5 autonomous driving capabilities with further offerings by the end of 2018. Currently, our L0-L2 autonomous driving technology has been tested and we are in the process of making these available to our customers."

Not only that, Dura also plans to use intelligent perception and display technology on interior and exterior designs, creating intelligent surfaces and enhancing vehicle connectivity through HMI design. According to Dura's vision, the future vehicle will encompass embedded driver interfaces to enhance operational security and safety. These technologies will even be present in the surface of B pillars for access features such as opening and closing doors and windows. At the same time, Dura is also developing its own keyless entry and key sharing APPs, to accommodate the trend of ride sharing for intelligent and connected vehicles of the future.

Dura’s smart surface technology transforms internal and external trim into new connected devices for human-machine-interfaces (HMI).

At present, China has reached an advantageous position in its efforts to develop new energy vehicles, connected vehicles and autonomous driving. As autonomous driving continues to draw new technology development in both domestic and foreign markets many believe that this is an opportunity for Chinese automobile manufacturers to take the lead in this global race for automation. It is precisely because of this background that in recent years a large number of foreign auto makers and suppliers have started to launch their new technologies aimed at autonomous driving and connected vehicles, vigorously deploying them to the domestic China market to push the Chinese auto industry into a crucial moment of mobility transformation and evolution.