The MEMS and Sensors Forum, part of Semicon Taiwan 2023, was held on September 5. Keynote speaker Prashanth Doreswamy, president and CEO of Continental Automotive Components (India) Pvt., said the primary catalyst of automotive technology development has shifted from horsepower to chips. Next-generation cars rely on electronics to enhance their performance.

Both Mercedes-Benz with its level 3 automated driving and Tesla have actively approached China with their full self-driving solutions (FSD). Despite not yet receiving formal approval for entry, Chinese media highlights Tesla's ongoing deployment of an on-site FSD team within China.

A recent official statement from Tesla discloses the establishment of a data center in China, intended to house all data generated by its vehicles in the country. This strategic move is believed to play a pivotal role in Tesla's establishment of its FSD team in China. This also indirectly signals the activation of Tesla's supercomputer within China.

With the progress in intelligence and stricter vehicle safety regulations, carmakers are facing a surging demand for sensors. In Level 2 self-driving and beyond, the market for automotive mmWave (millimeter-wave) radar is witnessing intense competition. Recently, Chinese contenders have entered the mmWave market, focusing on advancing the 77GHz mmWave radar. However, they are also grappling with price competition, resulting in a reshaping of the market landscape.

Taiwan-based automotive design company, Cruise X took the wraps off the X-Platform for logistics trucks. Albert Yang, the company's president, said the parent company, Studio X-Gene, embarked on EV projects, which left the team somewhat baffled in 2009. He held the view that many legacy automakers retained technologial advantages in internal combustion engines and transmission systems. Even though governments worldwide are imposing increasingly stringent regulations on air pollution and carbon emissions, the automotive industry's foundation isn't easily shaken. Nevertheless, when it boils down to the core component of automobiles—the chassis—it became the fundamental concept steering Cruise X's evolution.

Generative AI is expected to gain more exposure in future cars. Tesla and some China-based car companies are trying to integrate AI into their technologies. While commercialization is yet to come, Chinese automotive suppliers have started making efforts to create a stable supply of high-performance computing chips.

The Chinese government aims to stimulate its economy by encouraging more people to buy cars, especially EVs. The country announced a series of measures on July 20, including enhancing charging infrastructure and offering charging fee discounts.

Toyota announced an updated business plan for battery EVs after the new leadership took office. According to sources, automotive suppliers will not ignore the opportunities that Toyota can create for them while the carmaker has been falling behind Tesla, BYD or Volkswagen in growing its EV business.

Alongside the growing application of generative AI technology, the ongoing trend of AI servers adopting multiple GPU architectures is seen to bring various new business opportunities for Taiwan's supply chain players, particularly vendors of high-speed networking chips and equipment, according to industry sources.

Taiwan has the highest density of motorcycles in Asia. With the public, industry, and government prioritizing the safety of road users more, motorcycle IoT has become a unique topic in Taiwan's smart transportation development. Tien-Pen Hsu, executive director of the Taiwan Telematics Industry Association (TTIA) and lead researcher for the "Motorcycle IoT Collaborative Safety and Service Diffusion Experiment Research Project," stated that in terms of Taiwan's traffic environment, motorcycles have more urgency for IoT connectivity than cars.

Volkswagen has doubled down to grow its charging capability in the world's largest EV market. The automaker's China division announced on July 3 that it plans to increase capital investment in local charging service provider CAMS by CNY800 million (US$112 million) and launch a pilot charging program.

After surveying and analyzing the showcases at Taipei AMPA & Autotronics Taipei 2023 and E-Mobility Taiwan 2023 held in mid-April, DIGITIMES Research found that this year's event featured a growing number of high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor applications that significantly boost electrical vehicle (EV) efficiency, while the development of automotive electronics including mmWave radars, head-up displays (HUDs) and rear seat entertainment (RSE) systems are targeting mainly high-end applications, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest report covering the show.

When product autonomy is considered in the long run, it's not surprising to see carmakers and smartphone manufacturers in China vying to cross over into each other's market. However, as seen with Nio, Xiaomi, and Huawei, making a smart car completely in-house with only either the car owner base or the smartphone technology may not be the best market penetration strategy.

Germany-based automaker Mercedes-Benz recently obtained its second permit in the US for its L3 autonomous driving technology, Drive Pilot. As 2025, thought to be a watershed year in L3 autonomous vehicles, draws closer, global production plans for these vehicles remain sparse due to strict regulatory constraints on these advanced systems.

China-based Black Sesame Technologies announced on May 19 that it will provide local carmaker Hongqi Auto with its Huashan-2 A1000L series chips to enable an autonomous driving platform. In addition, the pair plan to start mass-producing vehicles based on the chip next year.

Tron Future Tech, a Taiwan-based startup specialized in active electronically scanned array (AESA) for drone and space applications, recently announced success in delivering the prototype of T.SpaceRouter, its automotive user terminal for low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication. In a press release, the company claimed that the T.SpaceRouter sourced 85% of components locally, marking a milestone for domestically developed automotive LEO satellite communication user terminals.

Qualcomm has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Autotalks, a fabless semiconductor company dedicated to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

The generative AI revolution brought about by ChatGPT also includes future cars. Current focus points include the new business opportunities created by in-vehicle AI through smart cockpits and human-vehicle interactions and generative AI's assistance in creating new car sales models. In fact, automobile manufacturing plants have been introducing AI in recent years.

The automotive supply chain market stated that MobileDrive, the joint venture between Stellantis and Foxconn, is planning to build an augmented reality (AR) navigation system inside the smart cockpit. It will be the first to utilize the naked eye 3D AR-HUD made by automotive HUD maker E-Lead.

EMS provider Universal Scientific Industrial, a subsidiary of ASE Technology (ASEH), is considering acquiring TE Connectivity's automotive solutions business for an estimated US$48 million.

Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) expects to see its automotive product line generate revenue between NT$50 billion (US$1.63 billion) and NT$100 billion in 2023, up from NT$20 billion in 2022.

Wistron NeWeb (WNC) will showcase a number of advanced automotive, communications, smart home and value-added vertically integrated software solutions at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC), with an advanced telematics control units (TCU) development kit, 5G Open RAN solutions and Wi-Fi7 software and hardware to be in the spotlight, according to the Taiwan-based provider of communications solutions.

Vehicles with connectivity and autonomous driving capability will require much higher computing performance and low latency. Industry source said up-to-date autonomous driving solutions generally need more than 1,000 TOPS computing power, which brings in the challenges of heat dissipation and real-time processing for chipmakers building the architecture for carmakers.

Municipalities in China are trying to maintain the EV momentum after the national subsidy program ended last year. Shenzhen just released its financial policies to support the development of a new energy vehicle (NEV) supply chain by 2025, from components supply to the end market.

Electric vehicles (EV) are viewed as computers on wheels, the new driving force for the revival of the ICT industry, and even the convergence between electronics and automotive industry. Here are several key trends: EV sales hit record 10 million in 2022, while China accounted for 70% of global sales. The EV industry will give China critical leverage in its trade war with the U.S. Secondly, diversification in manufacturing has become more important, with the growing EV market and even affecting semiconductor manufacturing presence. Last, volume manufacturing is undergoing evolution. V2X solutions are slated to boost the market growth and reshape our daily life in the future.

Sonatus, a California-based software startup, is bringing its networking expertise to carmakers and helping them build software-defined vehicles (SDV) faster. The company has secured US$110 million in total funding since established in 2018.