Tomorrow is coming... Today!
At the cutting edge of this revolution: Faurecia’s Cockpit of the future (COF). Kicked off two years ago, the initiative reflects the natural intersection of the company’s seating and interiors business groups. The fusion of these two fields of expertise positions Faurecia as the world’s only automotive supplier able to deliver a full cockpit systems solution to customers.
Complete systems are not the only development route, however. Faurecia’s “techno bricks” can be introduced individually. At the January CES show in Las Vegas, several of the most recent bricks were on display such as our morphing instrument panel, connected seat for health and wellness and voice-activated cockpit.
Two COF themes that are driving development of improved life on board: personalization and intuitiveness. Just as with their mobile phone, consumers expect an individual experience and the ability to set their own desires on how their automobile operates. At the same time, seamless and intuitive connections that render devices and functions easy to use have become absolute prerequisites; consumers simply will not use technology that is too complicated.
The COF program is built around a combined team and a network of experts stretching around the globe – from Paris to California to Shanghai – to facilitate ongoing contact with Faurecia’s customers and ecosystem. Team members work closely with customers on better understanding consumer expectations and anticipate trends and use cases in tomorrow’s cars: What will the consumer do in self-driving cars? How can new architecture be leveraged? How do we transform the occupants’ experience in a shared economy world?
Key to understanding is keeping the user experience central to product development. As Faurecia increasingly becomes a B2B2C company, use cases are developed through the use of market research and user panels to listen to the consumer. With this information, we work closely with customers in designing a technology roadmap that will anticipate and respond to demographic and societal trends.
The critical quality to succeed in this fast-moving world? Agility. Faurecia’s ability to continue to be a leader in helping to define tomorrow’s automobile means anticipating different driving modes and use cases and bringing the right expertise to bear.
To drive progress, working with others is a key characteristic and occurs in a variety of ways. Through Faurecia Venture, the company can take an equity position in technology start-ups. Strategic partnerships with companies like Accenture also bring considerable value. Growth, both externally through targeted acquisitions and internally through ongoing transformation initiatives also are important catalysts. The world moves so fast, no one can do everything alone.
What’s next? Making everything smart. Artificial intelligence will play an increasingly significant role, enabling us to improve and upgrade our solutions. Our products will no longer be static but rather dynamic and predictive. The car is becoming a computer on wheels, capable of self-learning from its occupants through data collection and mile-after-mile experience to improve performance. Truly, a revolution is underway and Faurecia is determined to help drive it.
