Motoring Trends May/June 2024

In an age where e-planes and levitating electric pods seem to take over automobiles that run on wheels and tyres, the auto industry is transforming the fastest of all the industrial sectors that there are. It is pushing the technological boundaries of innovation like no other. There are close to or more than 300 million lines of codes in a typical car or SUV today, today’s automobiles are far different from what they were a decade ago. The number of ECUs has risen to as much as 150. Add one more feature –irrespective of whether it adds to the electric drivetrain or the ADAS system – and there’s a good number of new codes and ECUs adding to the vehicle architecture. It is not for no reason therefore that the competition is between software majors such as Google and Microsoft and automotive OEMs. It is a healthy competition replete with cooperation arrangements but indicative at the same time of how big and brownie the world of software is turning out to be. The success of an automobile is coming to depend on its software much more than it is on the mechanicals. Simulation is playing a big part in this transformation by facilitating faster design and development of parts and autos. It is also aiding to create scenarios that can’t be simply created in actual just for the sake of development and trials. This issue of Motoring Trends takes a closer look at how simulation is aiding the auto industry transform itself. There are other interesting articles and interviews about how alternative fuel technologies are being accepted, or one is finding more favour over the other.