Network aims to advance UK automotive electronics innovation

The network, which is being officially launched at the University of Warwick today, is being backed by some of the country's leading car manufacturers and supply chain partners, including Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus, Nissan, McLaren Electronic Systems, Freescale, Infineon, Renesas and Visteon. "The UK has a strong base of vehicle, motorsport and electronic engineering capability and this new network provides a specialist home for electronic systems innovation and supply chain development," said Derek Boyd, ceo of NMI. "There's already momentum with key players and we'd like to invite more partners to come and join the network." According to Boyd, the Automotive Electronic Systems Innovation Network (AESIN) will work in alignment with the UK Automotive Council to put on technology days that showcase innovation, as well as seminars to reduce technical and business model constraints and incubation sessions to progress ideas with UK funding support. Freescale's Steve Wainright commented: "The shift to designing cars that work with a user's phone presents a significant opportunity for manufacturers; but, as driver distraction causes 25% of accidents in the US and 16% of all traffic fatalities at an estimated cost of $230billion per year, it can't just be enabling chatting or emailing in the car. The collaboration between electronic firms and car manufacturers is paramount to define the next human machine interfaces and graphics solutions that allow safe connectivity." Tim Strafford, from McLaren Electronic Systems, said one of the key agendas of AESIN was to take a step away from what's currently done and determine the true best practise. He noted: "The constraints and competition in F1, Indycar and NASCAR have made for an excellent environment for innovation. One good example comes in the system architecture; from engine control to the electric seats, there are now countless electronic control units in today's road cars, which each add weight, space and cost. "In F1, the drive to cut space and weight allowed us optimise the electronic architecture and we now use a single ecu at the heart of the car to control and monitor everything; from torque based engine control with precise fuel injection and ignition timing of an engine rotating at up to 18,000rpm, right through to elementary control of the driver's drink pump."