Diagnostics
During the last few years, the automotive industry has had to adapt to the uncertainty of Climate Change, Brexit and the Covid-19 global pandemic to name a few. And now an emerging crisis causing serious auto manufacturing supply chain problems is the global microchip shortage. What started as a minor inconvenience for those looking to upgrade to a PlayStation 5, Xbox series X has also caused global interruption to many automotive electronic supply industries.
The lack of semiconductors (chips) equates to automotive manufacturers such as the Volkswagen Group, Jaguar Land Rover, RenaultNissanMitsubishi and more that are affected by semiconductor chip supply setting off temporary shutdowns and production slow-down at some plants. This year the chip crisis shows no sign of improving, however some are affected far more than others.
Global sales of new cars are slowing down as supplies of new cars with the latest technology shrinks and waiting lists grow. So conversely, it’s no coincidence that used car sales are steady and some second-hand vehicles are increasing in value as a result.
The world is changing and with it so are cars and mobile transportation, most people know autonomous cars are having issues with final testing before production begins. A greater variety of electric cars are officially now on the “market” in New Zealand. The strong desire of owning your own car is still high in most modern wealthy countries driven by the status of having the latest automotive design masterpiece. This alone keeps Automotive manufacturers competing with each other for greater market share.
During the past decade focus on comfort, safety and emissions systems have increased and as they get “smarter” reliability comes back into question again. Automotive developers and designers are now in overdrive to supply technology driven manufacturers new safety, convenience and environmental improvements. The reliance of Automotive IT that can build almost any feature into any mobile transport solution is now placing a huge demand for supply of quality and quantity on semiconductor manufacturers.
Reliability is of paramount importance to car buyers, so it makes sense these days that most buyers list reliability among one of the top qualities they look for when buying a car and it makes sense a significant number of these buyers are likely to buy the same brand again if they experience little issues with their last car. Also, some hardcore brand loyalists will stick with a brand even after experiencing several, or even multiple issues, but this type of loyalty cannot be assured with the next generation of car buyers coming through.
More importantly, issues with technology, minor as they may be, are quickly becoming of greater importance as manufacturers race toward developing the next big “hit”. Trying to convince someone that a car can be trusted to drive them is a hard sell when that same car can’t even call someone via the intermittent phone system. The demand of high-quantity low-cost high performance semi-conductors could either fuel technology to revert to existing proven platforms or create the environment for game changing technology.
So, what is driving the demand for all these chips ? Advanced driverassistance systems, or ADAS, are systems to improve the driving experience and designed to increase overall vehicle safety. A great percentage of vehicle accidents occurred due to driver error, so it made sense to automate, adapt and enhance vehicle systems for safety and better driving. Advanced driverassistance systems (ADAS) are now a primary focus in new car development. Automated systems such as Blind Spot / lane warning provided by ADAS to the vehicle is proven to reduce road fatalities by minimizing human errors. Safety features are designed to avoid collisions and accidents by offering technologies that alert the driver to potential problems, or to avoid collisions by implementing safeguards and taking over control of the vehicle.
Adaptive features can automate lighting, provide adaptive cruise control and object avoidance. Standards-setting organisation SAE International has now established a five-level classification system to describe the level of automation in cars, from Level 1 (the system gives warnings, and the driver drives the car) to Level 5 (fully autonomous operation with no driver intervention required).
As this new technology is becoming common in most late model cars and trucks there needs to be effective diagnostic scanning solutions that can not only remove limp modes, code modules, relearn adaptive values and read live data, clear DTC codes and calibrate ADAS systems and make short work of your diagnostic time.
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