Chery takes innovation to new heights
PANKAJ KUMAR SHARMA
SHANGHAI: Before we lay our hands on our prized cars, they undergo rigorous overhaul before becoming roadworthy. Shaping the design of a car is a marvel for an engineer. But very few people know that just like a potter uses raw clay and the finesse of his hands to design pitchers, car designers also use the same material to build a miniature model.
Clay is heated to a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius so that it becomes soft and can be easily moulded into a proper shape, said Steve Eum, executive design director of Chery.
The small toy shaped cars are built from clay by designers with over 10 years of experience, said Steve, adding modifications are made to improve the design and make it sleek. Once approved, still, the bigger car size models are made with clay and given a coat of fibreglass to make it look like an original car.
Then come the engineers with their skills to look into the aerodynamics of a car and give it the shape best suited for the purpose. To save time the interiors of the car is built separately with steering wheel and front seat and dashboard, revealed Steve. This dummy is again changed multiple times until the design is finally approved and incorporated into the main model, added Steve. Even if the final design is approved, the car which lands on-road may have some features different from the original one, said Steve.
With competition in the auto market hotting up, Chery has unveiled a stunning driverless car that drives on its own. It went from Wuhu to Nanjing almost 100km on its own with the driver having to touch the screen only five times during the journey.
It can easily drop the owner in the office and search for a parking slot on its own.
New company vehicles will be fitted with anti-collision devices and alert alarm for drivers if he is dozing off, said Steve, adding surveillance sensors installed on vehicles will give them 360 degrees protection. Aluminium and use of composite carbon will give further strength to vehicles, which will save lives during crashes, said the executive design director.
In the case of multi-vehicle collision, the car will automatically veer off the road and even avoid pedestrian if he accidentally comes in front of the car, said Steve with full confidence.
Apart from these, the company is planning a virtual screen that gives an illusion of coming out of the dashboard and can do many functions including switching off the ACs and other appliances at home. Safety being the prime concern, Chery’s cars are randomly picked for crash tests at a state of the art facility in Wuhu. Robots ranging from $200,000 to $1,000,000 are used to simulate actual crash tests so that human lives are not lost in accidents.
With massive investment in research and development, the company is surely going to make a big mark in the auto market.