Inside story on CASE – Q&A with Yanfeng

International megatrends this kind of as connectivity, autonomous driving, shared mobility and electrification (Case) are transforming the encounter of the auto industry. With persons set to spend much less time driving, automobiles will as an alternative grow to be living spaces. The ensuing improvements to car or truck interior design and style will be the most profound in many years. The pandemic also highlights just how significant car or truck hygiene is for the full mobility industry. Continuing our series of tier a person component provider interviews, we caught up with Han Hendriks, Chief Technology Officer for Yanfeng Technology to get his vision of the form of matters to occur.

As the automotive industry shifts towards greater stages of driver autonomy, what are the opportunities for Yanfeng?

We see great opportunities for our firm and our organization. To make our Clever Cabin vision a reality, we set up our global Yanfeng Technology (YFT) device two many years in the past consolidating all our technologies and new merchandise growth actions with a specific focus on sustainability and the seamless integration of electronics and security technologies into Yanfeng’s goods and programs. This even consists of a Clever Cabin Controller to orchestrate all options and functions into new mobility activities that are safer, much more comfy, much more entertaining and related.

As greater stages of driver autonomy grow to be reality, the onboard car or truck practical experience will continue on to change absent from driving as the most important task in the direction of other actions this kind of as working, comforting, or socialising. Our XiM20 principle auto shown some of Yanfeng’s ideas relating to these new options, and how our portfolio of interior, seating, electronics, security, and exterior goods can aid provide them to reality. No matter if for passengers of the foreseeable future or for currently, Yanfeng proceeds to investigate finish-user requires to develop goods and systems that develop a improved existence on board.

To what extent do you see much more use of touchscreens in the foreseeable future? Or do you see much more gesture, eye motion or some thing else?

Contact screens will continue to be a essential interaction modality of automobiles as they permit basic interaction and are well recognised and comprehended by consumers. End users are previously comfy with voice-primarily based interaction as well as gesture handle through assistants in smartphones and at dwelling through gaming purposes. Eye managed user interfaces show an supplemental option for remote-managed user interfaces, identical as voice and gesture handle.

It looks like pretty much almost everything is now related to almost everything else together with the automobiles. What is your vision of the related auto?

Related automobiles deliver a large variety of opportunities and purposes for consumers, OEMs, Tier 1s and 3rd Events. We see improved driver assistance, conversation and on-board solutions and usually recent by using OTA updates as significant developments increasing the interior practical experience of the foreseeable future.

At Yanfeng we create on our core goods and physical options and electronic intelligence, to enhance the specific user practical experience as well as concerning occupants and the car or truck alone. In this context digitalisation is the most important obstacle – but also the route to change.

Merging our interior surfaces with electronic functions into intelligent surfaces is thrilling to believe about. But then the subsequent action would be to leverage facts to deliver tailored solutions to a customer.

What does it signify to us to leverage major facts, develop a provider creating on our physical goods and leveraging a electronic eco-program that provides legitimate value to the finish-user? In the foreseeable future, we will progressively integrate electronic solutions into our elements e.g. wellness options or ease and comfort functions this kind of as seats that instantly alter to your heart rate. A thing our firm is discovering in China, for example, is an application for a rideshare auto that offers the customer the option of a seat therapeutic massage during the ride. A attainable organization product is to promote the base seat to the automaker but to give absent the therapeutic massage perform and as an alternative, just take a percentage for every use, as a charge. In other words and phrases, our firm is advertising a provider, as well as a merchandise, with all the attendant problems, this kind of as who is liable for the application or for the functionality of the seat.

Could you inform us a little much more about your touchFC and the noteworthy highlights?

To aid hold the interior clean up, the new flooring console principle “touchFC” consists of UV sanitising and air ionising programs as well as subsequent level air venting technologies. Our firm has merged revolutionary kinematics and intelligent surfaces to develop an even safer and much more powerful human-car or truck interaction, the place the major focus is on intuitive handle features. A specific spotlight of the flooring console is an electric powered storage box with an built-in UV sanitising program. On the rear aspect of the flooring console, conveniently available for passengers on the 2nd row, is an electrically lockable storage box with UV sanitisation. Objects which are saved inside this are sanitised once the box has been shut. The air vent previously mentioned the storage box is equipped with an built-in ionisation generator which eliminates dust, microbes, and viruses from the air. Both equally the air vent and storage are operated by controls that are built-in into the flooring console.
Not so prolonged in the past, auto interior lights consisted of central and aspect headliner lights, complemented by low-level ambient lights located mostly in the cockpit place. What’s your assessment of the phase of progress with ambient lights?

Interior lights is turning into dynamic, purposeful, intelligent, and transforming from spot and linear to full surfaces built-in into decorative elements that can even be personalised. To observe these traits, we want to merge electronics with decorative layouts to provide the best and seamlessly built-in answers. Interior integration is our essential strength to differentiate us from conventional lights competition.

I guess that the wish for interior lights goes over and above aesthetics it can also impact driver focus and eye fatigue. How do you see it serving to there?

Unique colours, depth and rhythm of mild can also be utilized to aid battle driver fatigue and retain his notice.

But lights can also be utilized to focus the driver’s notice on driving scenarios. For example: Warning of risky scenarios by combining display, mild and audio as a multimodal HMI principle.

Ambient mild can also be tailored to different driving modes: minimalistic and driving concentrated in sport method to enhance front focus. In a brighter and clearer way for a working method in autonomous driving scenarios or also with flashing red mild to suggest the changeover circumstance from driving method to autonomous self-driving a person.

The value of health and fitness and wellness has occur into sharp focus in new months. Buyer systems this kind of as conditioning trackers have been common for some time, checking our heart premiums, overall performance and sleep, but how may the renewed focus on wellness translate to the automotive room and what part can interior lights participate in?

With our holistic Clever Cabin vision, our intention is to make you experience improved, healthier and much more peaceful during your time expended in our interiors. Air-purification, fragrances, lights results, audio and seat ease and comfort options like heating, cooling and therapeutic massage all working together with the assist of sensors and our Clever Cabin controller helps make this attainable. Exclusively, we believe that interior lights will continue on to acquire value in the foreseeable future and lead to the differentiation of the interior. Also, purposes this kind of as solar-like ambient mild can assist wellness. Normal LED lights can affect positively the temper and notice of the driver and passengers.

In autonomous automobiles or in the rear seats, it is attainable to develop a mild cocoon with a tranquil and comforting mild show for a publish-get the job done detox during the commute. We showcased a foreseeable future scenario in the rear zone of our XiM20 cabin that offers occupants a way to retreat from the hustle and bustle of each day existence and develop a experience-great ambiance. The room mimics the cozy ambiance of a cabin, with a comfortable cloth bordering and technologies integrations built to complement passengers’ moods and preferences. In the XiM20, the intelligent surfaces switch concerning four different modes, depending on the circumstance. For example, there is a blue Energy method and a violet/orange Unwind method. When the UV surface area sanitiser is activated, the surface area displays blue bubbles. In standby method, the surfaces keep white.

Do you see the pandemic top to a prolonged phrase decline in desire for shared mobility? Or do you see it as just a speed bump?

Working with the Chinese market as an indicator – with strict lockdowns at the start of the pandemic and now mainly a return to usual existence, together with all modes of transportation – it would show up that the decline in shared mobility is/was just a speed bump in its growth. As a evidence level, Didi ridership revenue actually improved 10% in 2020 from 2019. In the center of the pandemic, they nonetheless saw expansion year-about-year.

The only lasting consequence looks to be greater customer consciousness about opportunity contagions in the car or truck interior (whether shared or owned). Most persons do treatment a great deal about the cleanliness of their very own or shared automobiles, and persons treatment about a balanced, and captivating interior of the cabin when starting their journeys. Technologies that encourage health and fitness and wellness have been previously a trending subject right before the pandemic shaped our “new usual.”

Today, persons are even much more worried about hygiene in their automobiles.

This is the cause why Yanfeng accelerated growth of an aftermarket UV sanitiser for the Chinese market past year. Identical to UV sanitisers in the professional medical industry, this device sterilises a the greater part of microbes right through UV publicity, making certain a cleaner and safer onboard practical experience.

But it looks to be that also people in Germany are nonetheless fascinated in working with shared mobility solutions. In accordance to a new analyze executed by the worldwide facts examination firm YouGov, just about a 3rd of Germans (36 for every cent) could picture working with self-driving automobiles as cabs, though 28 for every cent would also consider working with them as portion of a sharing provider.

The past twelve months have been a really unforgettable period for anyone and for all sorts of reasons. In your organization, what stands out as the most important challenges you confronted?

Yanfeng preserved efficiency and fulfilled shipping requires during the pandemic. From an operational standpoint idling manufacturing is a obstacle, but restarting is an even much more tough task due to the fact our global source chain is so intricate, and the COVID pandemic has by no means stopped.

Like other companies, the most important obstacle though we worked remotely, has been how to retain the identical level of collaboration and facts trade. We relied a great deal much more on electronic instruments to hold teams effective. This has presented benefits, this kind of as bigger inclusion of global teams who now have a probability to join meetings nearly. On the other hand, the speed and synergy of collaborations, creativeness and brainstorming in human being and encounter-to-encounter in greater groups is some thing that our teams miss out on, and we search ahead to starting these actions once more in the really in close proximity to foreseeable future.

What did you master that you did not anticipate to master?

If you had asked me two many years in the past if it was attainable to continue on our get the job done, pretty much ‘as usual’ with all our staff members working from dwelling all about the entire world, I would have stated that it definitely isn’t attainable. Now I know improved. Past year was not like any other – and our teams globally shown flexibility, resilience, perseverance and ongoing to supply remarkable success.

Irrespective of the roadblocks the pandemic offered, the global Yanfeng team has stayed on monitor to meet or exceed our essential organization commitments and customer expectations. Our teams collaborated well globally and fully leveraged all electronic instruments. Definitely, numerous of the revolutionary organization methods applied by our teams during the pandemic will continue on to reward Yanfeng for many years to occur.

The COVID disaster and ensuing instability also encourage OEM buyers to depend on global suppliers they can belief. Our buyers recognize our balance, our prolonged-phrase vision and our ability to supply inspite of the tough ecosystem.