According to automotive industry expert Dr David Cole, “more and more, the interior systems are viewed as product differentiators.” [1]
He went on to tell Saline Journal this week that “manufacturers and suppliers are treating the interior as an integrated system.” This coupled with the emergence of sophisticated system suppliers that didn’t just make a seat, but began to focus on the total interior of a vehicle …. [Forty] years ago the suppliers were responsible for less than 10% of auto intellectual property, whereas today it is more than 50% and growing.”
Faurecia is one such entity. Its impressive presence in the City of Saline spans a stretch of East Michigan Avenue from Busch’s to Rentschler farm, and is believed to be the the largest public employer in this community. Headquartered in France, it represents another tangible way in which Saline is a true part of the world economy. [2,3,4,5,6]
Donald Hampton Jr, President of Faurecia Interiors North America, has said that they are one of the top ten automotive suppliers. With a reported $19.8 billion in sales, 26% of which is generated from North American Operations. One out of every three vehicles now produced includes their technology.
In this area they are working on what is generally referred to as “smart life onboard,” or “the cockpit of the future.” The focus is on how occupants will “interact with the vehicle, within the cockpit,” he told Saline Journal. [7]
“It’s ‘automotive.’ But you need to think about it as moving people. How are we going to do that? Trains. Buses. Cars. Now think about how you’re going to move in a smart way. That means integrating tech into smart surfaces. TV screens. Health and wellness indicators in seating. [8]
“What’s your state of mind as you drive?” Mr Hampton continued. The vehicle compartment can sense that. It then responds in real time with adjustments to audio, interior lighting, temperature, seat positioning, ventilation, and even massage to improve the environment.
Dr Cole expanded on this point: “If you look at seats in luxury vehicles, they have a bunch of small motors that can change just about any aspect of the seat. I met a medical doctor at the recent seating conference in our area. He has developed a software-driven device that can change the output of these motors in very subtle ways to increase seating comfort — without the driver or passengers even knowing about it, other than they are more comfortable.”
With the Apple Watch 4 release immanent, Faurecia Interiors North America Operations Engineering Vice President Robert Kinney has succinctly observed that the basis for all of this is “already in our daily lives, collecting data passively. It’s logical, then, to create a technology set that uses that to run machine learning — to predict needs.” [9]
But one of the most exotic concepts that Faurecia executives discussed with Saline Journal was its “personal sound bubble.”
Most families can relate to the long drive for Saturday outings or in anticipation of well-deserved disconnect for extended vacation. Yet very few miles are put on vehicle odometer before differences in passenger tastes for entertainment emerge. Ten years ago, it was a debate over who controls the radio? Ubiquity of personal MP3 players with headsets and then smartphones serve as somewhat limiting makeshift solutions today.
Unfortunately, isolating the driver this thoroughly from outside sounds necessary to safe driving is a key issue; it also makes ad hoc discussion and periodic input from anyone riding shotgun a non-starter.
As Donald Hampton described it, the personal sound bubble concept literally allows two adjacent vehicle occupants to enjoy vastly different music at the same time. “I could be listening to jazz and Bob could be listening to hard rock,” he said, using Mr Kinney as an example. “But he could also hear everything I said to him.
“We could carry on a conversation and very clearly hear each other, without touching any volume control or needing to physically interact with the car.”
Next month, Faurecia will be exhibiting elements of its technologies described above for the first time at the IAA Commercia Vehicles trade fair in Hannover, Germany. As much as anything, that makes for quite a rich juxtoposition of the fabric elements that make Saline all that it is, with the future of smart automobile interiors not just imagined, but realized as part of a worldwide organization that neighbors the old Emanuel Rentschler homestead. [10,11]
“Faurecia is a true major player in the interiors business along with several other companies that are truly global organizations,” Dr David Cole concluded.
References
- “David E Cole: Inducted 2013” Automotive Hall of Fame.
- Faurecia Interiors (home page).
- Busch’s Fresh Food Market (home page).
- “Rentschler Farm Museum” Saline Area Historical Society.
- “Global Manufacturers Are Hiring Employees At All Skill Levels To Help Their Saline Operations Continue To Succeed” Dell Deaton (August 8, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Saline’s Sister Cities” Saline.
- “Faurecia’s Auto Cockpits of the Future Dazzle At CES” Josh Max (January 19, 2018) Forbes.
- “Faurecia will attend CES 2018 – teaser video” Faurecia (November 27, 2017) YouTube.
- “Apple Watch 4 release date, price, news and leaks” James Peckham (August 30, 2018) TechRadar.
- IAA Nutzfahrzeuge 2018 | Messe Hannover (home page).
- “Faurecia Demonstrates Efficient and Intelligent Technologies at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018 – Hall 23, Booth D20” Newsroom (August 30, 2018) Faurecia.
