The Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre, a joint initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), organised a conference on Innovation for Automotive Electronics with the theme “New Horizons & Expanding Dimensions” in Chennai on October 17. The conference was aimed at supporting the convergence of automotive engineering with modern electronics and ICT systems and to understand the trends in the area of automotive electronics. With the automotive industry playing a bigger role in the country’s economy, the conference focused on key growth parameters like innovation, new products, new markets, advanced technology, revenue streams, and so on.
The automotive industry is shifting towards greater safety, zero emission, intelligence and connected vehicles. At the global level, OEMs are now paying more attention to make vehicles intelligent and hi-tech by interacting with the external factors like traffic, weather, roads, etc. These developments clearly represent a leap in the automotive electronics technology in the current and future vehicles. This is also evident in increasing the share of electronics to more than 40 per cent in modern day vehicles. The share is set to increase in the upcoming vehicle models.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Subu D. Subramanian, Conference Chairman & Managing Director & CEO, Hinduja Tech Ltd., said: “The global automotive production is on its way to cross the 100-million mark. As the demand for automobiles is picking up, we also see the demand from the consumers also picking up. There are high investments coming in from OEMs in terms of innovative features in electronics, where most of the R&D expenses happen. In many instances electronics-enabled features are considered as the differentiating factor. There is a tremendous increase in the content of electronics which has almost got doubled from 15 per cent in 1990 to 30 per cent today, and even 40 per cent in the high end luxury car segment.”
Mr. Subu also referred to the skill-gap in automotive electronics which requires niche skill sets to support the growth, an area where more attention needs to be paid by the stakeholders. Further, with cities like Chennai and Pune excelling in component manufacturing and Bangalore with its expertise in ICT and electronics, the country is strategically positioned to tap the huge automotive electronics market.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr. S.N. Eisenhower, Vice Chairman – CII Tamil Nadu & Director – Operations, Saint-Gobain Glass India, said that the conference was organised at a time when the government has come out with various schemes related to clusters and corridors in the manufacturing sector and also aims to highlight the emerging technologies and the underlying opportunities that would be availed in the best interest of the stakeholders.
In his special address, Dr. Aravind Bharadwaj, Head – Technology, TPDS, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said the digital knowledge or the ability for people to be comfortable with electronic gadgets is on the increase. This is also a challenge as well as an opportunity for the manufacturers with a lot of vehicles going into the electrical mode. Hence his company manufactures the cheapest electric car in the world which is in serial production.
Mr. M. Velmurugan, Executive Vice Chairman, Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance & Export Promotion Bureau, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said the State has emerged a major player in automobile manufacturing with increasing share of electronic components. It is one of the largest developers of software for overseas applications. Auto majors like Mahindra Research Valley, which is Asia’s largest vehicle design centre employing 2,500 professionals, have invested heavily in the State.