Automotive Industry and Technology
Introduction
Automotive engineering is a vehicle engineering branch incorporating; elements of safety, electronic, mechanical, software, and electrical engineering as it applies to designs, processes of manufacture and automobiles, and truck operations. Automotive engineering also involves vehicle modifications, manufacturing of domain deals, and creations where automobile parts are assembled. This field involves entails direct involvement of formulas and modules in mathematics. The automotive industry began in the United States in the 1890s and quickly developed being ranked the largest worldwide following the domestic market size and mass production usage. Studying automotive engineering helps in designing, developing, fabricating, and testing components of vehicles from concept to production stage. The three primary functions of automotive engineering are to produce, develop, and manufacture. This study will examine how automotive engineering will have improved technologically in the future and how it will impact communities worldwide.
Background Information
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge in search of answers to fixing problems and inventing useful tools. In other words, technology is the use of scientific knowledge and science for a practical target. In the automotive industry, the companies and operations included in manufacturing motor vehicles involving most components like engines and the bodies without involving fuel, batteries, and tires. The automobile industry’s main products include passenger motorcars and light trucks like; sporty vehicles, vans, and pickups. Modern automotive design vehicles are truck, motorcycle, bus, and motorcars. Automotive engines are classified into diesel and gasoline engines. The automobile industry began in the late 19th century in Europe. In the early 20th century, the United States dominated the world industry entirely through the introduction of mass production skills. In the last half of the 20th century, Japan and other Western Europeans turned into primary producers and exporters. The origin of the automotive industry’s primary source was in the creation of a gasoline engine in German and France. In the early 20th century, Britians and Italians joined the manufacturers in German and France. Most early automobile companies made bicycles, horse-drawn vehicles, and there were machinery manufacturers who made stationary gas engines and marine engines. ( Hirz et al. 2017) The gasoline engine’s first success was followed by extensive electricity and steam experimentations. The electric automobile enjoyed acceptance because its operation was easy, and it was quite. The only challenge was the battery capacity limitations, which was fatal. Electric cars were most popular with women, and they maintained a good limited production in the 1920s. Detroit Electric Car Company survived the longest as a car maker. The 1900s steam car was easily operated because there was no elaborate transmission required. By 1910 steam vehicles manufacturers had shown their interests into gasoline power, but the Stanley brothers proceeded with the manufacture of steam automobiles till the early 1920s. The evolution of technological improvement makes vehicles safer, friendly to the user, and has features that advance their value and make them more useful to the owners. Modern cars can do more than driving one from places, just like modern cell phones can extend a call. Digital technology growth is enabling automobiles to bring about autonomous driving and preventing accidents. Technology is set to allow for; self-driving systems, minimizing pollution and emissions, the efficiency of predictive technology, the use of augmented reality dashboards, and improving driver’s safety. Since the introduction of motorcars to the mainstream markets in the world, innovations based on technology have been a part of the industry. Over the previous century, the motorcar industry has witnessed incredible advancements technologically since the arrival of engines that needed fossil fuels to enhance transportation; the effect of technology in motorcar shaping has been extraordinary. The automobile industry is advancing fast, like other organizations in contemporary periods.
Statement of the research
Past research has mainly focused on automotive technology and human factors. This study will give an idea to engineers and subjects of interest about how future technology will advance the automotive engineering and the impacts it will have on the communities around the world. This study will help engineers understand why technology improvement will be essential in the automotive industry. Also, it will help people be aware of the changes that future technology will impact the automotive engineering and how the changes made will affect them in the society.
Research questions and objectives
- Will there be a technological advancement?
- How will technology advancement affect automotive engineering?
- How will advanced automotive engineering affect communities in the world?
The objectives of this research are; to determine whether there is a possibility of future technology advancements and in what level will the technology advancement be, how the technological advancement will affect the automotive engineering and the changes the industry will make, to examine how the advancement of technology in automotive engineering industry will affect the communities in the world.
Findings and discussions
In a world full of technology, the current advancement and the next advancement are equally good. New technologies have been brought to us constantly by the auto industry despite it being for safety purpose, pure innovation or entertainment goals. The current car technologies have been modified specifically for safety, and others have some kind of safety focus to them. The latest innovations in cars have exciting technologies that could revolutionize not only the automotive industry but also personal transportation. According to what is being tested and the quality o cars on the roads nowadays, engineers have an idea of the technology being innovated that has a chance to produce more quality products. The technology in await will help with safety measures, provide information in a more efficient way, and the other kind will help the world to loosen up and enjoy the new ride to the maximum.
Cars communicating with the road and each other
Lately, the U.S government and vehicle manufacturers have been looking seriously and doing some research on two technologies that are said to have the ability to make communication between future cars possible and with the surrounding objects. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V) is a developing technology under the process of testing by automotive manufacturers like Ford. All the struggle is aimed at helping in the minimize of accidents amount on the road. An example of a situation is when one is drawing near to an intersection while another vehicle runs their red light, but the driver does not see the red light. The v2v communication will help by warning the driver about the possible collision or maybe hit the automatic breaks and avoid the accident. V2V will be enabled by connecting wireless signals and sending information between cars which entails their direction, speed and location. ( Ye et al. 2019) The information acquired is shared with the surrounding cars to give information about possible ways of ensuring safe distance keeping amongst cars. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers have been working algorithms in V2V that are used in the calculation of cars information needed to figure out what would be the best temporary measure in case another car came into its projected path. In 2020 a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) insinuates that V2V has the ability to minimize car crashes by 79 per cent. Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communication( V2I) is another consideration put to the test. V2I would be used in enhancing car communication with road signs, traffic signals and providing the acquired information to the car about safety problems. V2I also would be able to request information about the traffic from traffic management systems and get to know the best routes to use. ( Ye et al. 2019) NHTSA reported that the incorporation of V2I and V2V systems would minimize targeted vehicle crash by 81 per cent.
V2V and V2I technologies would help the communities in the world transform their driving ways and dramatically increase automotive safety. The advantage is that the government and car companies are working on these technologies with the aim of making it a reality. Vehicle communication directs the world into the next future technology.
Self-driving cars
A real self-driving car means a car that is capable of driving itself. These type of cars are more close to becoming a reality than one might think. The ideology of a self-driving car is now a real new idea because movies and TV shows had the idea and also some cars on the road have the ability to pack themselves. Google engineers in California and Nevada have already had the priority of testing self-driving vehicles on long miles above two hundred thousand miles of roads and public highways. Not only do google cars record road images but also use digital maps to view the road signs, finding alternative routes and spotting traffic lights before a human can be able to see. The cars can process information and analyze information concerning their surrounding in a fast speed than a normal human being can by the use of cameras, radars and lasers.
If by any chance the self-driving cars survive till mass production, communities in the world will benefit by having more time to themselves. In America, people spend about one hundred hours in traffic all days. ( Walker, 2017) Self-driving cars would help engagement with platooning and enable multiple cars to drive act as one unit and drive closely. People have a belief that platooning would minimize highway accidents considering that the cars will be communicating with each other and reacting accordingly without the driver’s distractions. Google tests imply that cars were able to learn road details by driving a couple of times. When it was time for self-driving, the car could identify when people were crossing the road, and it would stop to allow them to pass. Transportation would be made safer by self-driving cars by reducing the cause against 95 per cent of current accidents. General Motors (GM) have done their testing on self-driving cars, and most people have a belief that in the next decade, showrooms will show cars of the sort.
Augmented Reality Dashboards.
In the near future cars will have the ability to identify external objects and their information be displayed on the windshield. In science fiction movies like the Terminator robots automatically get information about things when they look at them. Augmented Reality (AR) will function just like the robots do. BMW has introduced a windshield display that helps in displaying information, and they are in the process of developing AR dashboards which can identify objects. When approaching a vehicle a high speed, the dashboard can help one scheme into a safe lane before causing a collision. AR meant for passengers is also being researched where Toyota has generated working concepts that would give passengers a room to zoom on objects and view objects distance from a touch-screen window.
Airbags that would help in stopping cars
Mercedes is working towards a way of using airbags as an active safety system. Experimentation of airbags that unfolds from below the car by Mercedes will help in stopping a car before it crashes. These airbags are already a part functioning safety system, and they unfold when the sensors figure out that influence is inevitable.( Oktav,2018) The friction coating in the bags help in the slowing of the car and can also double the power used in stopping a vehicle. Airbags also lift the vehicle and improve a contact that is bumper-to-bumper, and the passengers are prevented fro sliding during a collision. This is a potential future technology because it puts the existing car safety systems to use. Mercedes has to work for several years on this technology, and with the current airbag evolutions, it is possible for cars to be stopped by airbags in the near future.
Energy-storing body panels
A group of nine European auto manufacturers have been testing and researching body panels that have the ability to store energy and can somehow charge quicker than today’s batteries. Polymer fiber is used un the making of the body panels together with carbon resin strong enough for vehicle use and can be molded because of their pliability into panels. ( Volvo) The panels could be used in car weight reduction by 15 per cent. Toyota is engaging in the storing panels with lightweight goals, but they are researching body panels which is one step ahead in search for the capture of solar energy which would later be stored in a lightweight panel. Automotive companies are in search of ways of making cars lightweight and increase their energy efficiency.
Conclusion
The Automotive engineering industry will have improved in ways that will affect the communities in the world positively. The future technology is promising because some of the technologies are already on the process of being implemented. The Automotive engineering industry will create vehicles with better features that will enhance safety and make driving easier worldwide. These advancements are self-driving cars that will give people more time to themselves, vehicle-to-vehicle communication which will help in the reduction of accidents on the highway, airbags that would have the ability to stop a car in case there is a threat to crushing with other vehicles and creation of body panels that will enable cars to reduce their weight, and this will enhance safety in the roads. Motor Companies are working on the near-future technology and sooner that we think we will be purchasing advanced technology vehicles.
References
Bajpai, R. P., & Chandrasekhar, U. (2016). Innovative Design and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering (pp. 401-403). Springer.
Hirz, M., Rossbacher, P., & Gulanová, J. (2017). Future trends in CAD–from the perspective of automotive industry. Computer-aided design and applications, 14(6), 734-741.
Oktav, A. (2018). New Trends and Recent Developments in Automotive Engineering. no. March.: https://www.britannica.com/technology/automotive-industry
Volvo. “Tomorrow’s Volvo Car: Body Panels Serve as the Car’s Battery.” Sept. 24, 2010. (Dec. 15, 2011) http://www.volvocars.com/intl/top/about/news-events/pages/default.aspx?itemid=209
Walker, G. H., & Stanton, N. A. (2017). Human factors in automotive engineering and technology. CRC Press.: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1064804617691042a
Ye, H., Li, G. Y., & Juang, B. H. F. (2019). Deep reinforcement learning based resource allocation for V2V communications. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 68(4), 3163-3173.