Taiwan Courts Chinese Automakers

Possibilities of cross-strait synergy in the automobile industry

More and more Taiwanese automotive-related companies are realizing that their future lies in mainland China, which is poised to displace the United States as the world's largest automobile market within the next few years.

Apart from its market potential, mainland China offers a route for Taiwanese automakers to break their long-term dependence on foreign technology suppliers. For decades, the local auto industry has focused mainly on parts and assembly, but that is gradually changing as homegrown models begin to come to market, such as indigenously developed automobiles made by the Yulon Group.

The possibilities of cross-strait synergy in the automobile industry were highlighted at the Conference on Cross-strait Cooperation and Exchange in the Automobile (including Battery Energy Storage) Industry, which was held in late November in Taipei. During the conference, local auto-parts makers and government-sponsored research organizations jointly showed off their best technologies and products to the more than 100 members of the attending Chinese delegation. The two sides also discussed future cooperation opportunities once the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) comes into effect.

Most of the automotive electronic systems on display have been commercialized in Yulon's Luxgen own-brand cars. Other technologies and products on show were designed to make cars lighter and more intelligent. The displays also underscored the R&D achievements of both private makers and government-backed research institutes in the assembled car and electric vehicle (EV) segments.

Full-LED Headlamps

One item on display was a full-LED headlamp developed by Ta Yih Industrial Co., the largest local original equipment (OE) headlamp maker. The innovative product taps Taiwan's strong advantages in the LED, electronics, auto-lamp sectors.

Full-LED headlamps are only used on a few high-end car models, such as the Audi R8 super sport car and the Cadillac Escalade Platinum edition. According to Lin Min-feng, manager of Ta Yih's technical development division, this high-end lamp will be used on Taiwan-made cars. "We are very confident that we will have no technical problems in making a full-LED headlamp," Lin claims, "Such lamps are 60% to 70% more power efficient compared to conventional headlights, and that ratio will increase as LEDs become more efficient."

Lin claims that Ta Yih's full-LED headlamp is the first market-ready product of its kind to be developed in Taiwan. The integrated headlamp combines low beam, high beam, position-light, and day running light (DRL), and direction signal light functions, yet needs only 49W of power, compared to 115W for traditional halogen counterparts.

The advanced headlamp also underscores Ta Yih's technological prowess in optical and lighting fixture design, Lin says. The advanced heat-dissipation system, for example, balances luminosity and system temperature for optimal performance.

Lin says that his company will spend four years and NT$400 million (US$12.3 million) to develop the the full-LED headlamp, which is now in the third year of development. As part of a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA)-sponsored program to cultivate homegrown key auto parts, other companies are also developing upstream capabilities, such as diode epitaxy, to form a comprehensive supply chain.

Intelligent Automotive Seating

GSK Intek Co., Ltd., formerly known as GSK Steering Wheel Co., Ltd., displayed two major R&D achievements that are commercialized-ready, including a fully homegrown air bag and an intelligent automotive seat system with many advanced functions, including anti-theft (the seat will move forward to its front end so as to prevent thiefs from driving away with the car), auto memory (storing the driver's personal settings), a built-in temperature control system to maintain a permanent temperature of the seat, and even a full-body massage function.

Indigenous Powertrain

Advance Power Investment Co., Ltd. (CECTEK), formerly known as China Engine Corp. of Yulon Group, is the largest automotive engine developer and manufacturer in Taiwan. The company, which already makes a 1,200cc eight-valve gasoline engine for a mini commercial vehicle, is developing a powertrain system to help Taiwan carmakers tap the global market.

At the conference display, CECTEK introduced a turbo-charged 2,200cc, multi-point electronic fuel-injection (MEFI) gasoline engine, which is now powering Yulon's Luxgen7 MPV model. Several thousands of Luxgen7 MPVs have been ordered in Taiwan, and the car model will be soon produced in China too.

Tseng Pi-lin, section manager of CECTEK's department of powertrain project planning, points out that the low-weight MEFI engine has a power output equal to a 3.0L counterpart. Its advanced engine management system (EMS) can achieve an average fuel efficiency of 9.5KM per litre.

Tseng says that the powertrain is aimed at replacing various similar counterparts, including the 2.0L turbo-charged powertrain on Renault's Espace MPV (the Luxgen7 MPV is based on the Espace chassis platform), and the 2.4L engine on Toyota Previa (Luxgen7 MPV's targeted rival). "In general, we are trying to produce a turbo-charged powertrain that can deliver the horsepower of a 3.0L gasoline engine but consumes fuel like a 2.0L engine," Lin says.

Lin admits that developing turbo-charged engines is expensive, but it is less costly than upgrading a four-cylinder engine into a six-cylinder 3.5L model. "We are very confident that the 2.2L turbo-charged engine is internationally competitive," Lin says. “From start to finish, CECTEK poured about NT$1 billion (US$30.8 million) to turn this into reality."

While it may take time to prove CECTEK's technical ability in automotive engine, Taiwan's automotive line can be deemed as "totally independent" from foreign technical partners.

Smart Cars

The global automotive semiconductor market has long been controlled by few international players, especially those companies from automobile producing nations. Now, however, some IC design companies hope to put Taiwan at the forefront of this industry.

One such company is Myson Century Inc., a Yulon Group subsidiary that is pioneering new ground in automotive semiconductors. The company has developed both automotive body-control and communication gateway chips that have already been certified by Yulon, making it the first local semiconductor producer to successfully tap into the automotive application market.

Tim Chung, manager of Myson Century's design engineering department, points out that his company's gateway ICs (which are responsible for the communications between various networks on a vehicle) is more technologically sophisticated than single-CAN chips. After developing the gateway chips, his company plans to target the chip at the market doe single-CAN electronic control unit (ECU) chips and digital-sensing chips used in ultrasonic parking sensors.

Chung says that his company entered the automotive-semiconductor segment three to four years ago with the strong support from Taiwan's world-class semiconductor industry. Most of the ICs used in 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) applications resemble counterparts in automotive applications, but the documentation and certification of the latter are more complicated. Chung is very confident about the development of Taiwan's automotive-semiconductor sector, which has been held back, not by insufficient technology, but by lack of market opportunities.

"If we can do it, other local companies can too," Chung states. "Our company has mapped out a clear roadmap for automotive-semiconductor product development: from body to entertainment and powertrain applications.”

Low-cost Night Vision System

Once used only on advanced military hardware, night-vision systems are coming into reach for passenger vehicle applications thanks to a low-cost solution developed by Taiwan Calsonic Co., Ltd.

Liao Wen-hua, manager of the electronics R&D department at Taiwan Calsonic, a first-tier supplier of electrical/electronic parts, says that his company adopts charge coupling device (CCD) sensors and self-developed image-processing technology in its low-cost night-vision system. The system extends the visual distance of general drivers in dark environment to 100 meters (the illumination distance of low beams is 30 to 40 meters while the high beams about 100 meters).

The outstanding advantage of the CCD-based night-vision system, which is already adopted by a local automaker, Chung says, is that the system costs only 20% to 30% as much as night-vision systems on luxury limousines, which can extend visual distance to about 200 meters or more but are too costly for more general application.

Automotive Smartphone

High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), one of the world's leading smartphone makers, has been extending its R&D capability into the automotive industry in recent year.

As a shareholder in Yulon's Luxgen project, the smartphone maker has developed an embedded telematics system for Yulon with specifications and standards required by the automaker. The HTC telematics system, called the Think+ system, is used on Luxgen car models. It is based on 3.5G mobile technology and integrates various electronic safety, entertainment, navigation, and communication systems.

The system brings together safety-related information, such as eagle view (360-degree vehicle image system), side view, night vision, lane departure warning systems (LDWS), and wireless tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). It can also be used for information and entertainment applications.

Kandy Wu, manager of HTC's ODM sales, says that the most difficult thing in developing the on-board telematics system is not the technical challenge but adapting to the totally different cultures of consumer electronics and automotive electronics. "For consumer electronics, HTC develops an average 10 to 15 new products every year," Wu says, "but for the automotive industry a new product requires a guaranteed lifetime of 12 years."

360-degree Viewing

Altek Corp., a Yulon Group subsidiary, is the world's largest supplier of digital camera modules for cellphones, and now it is utilizing its image-processing ability in vehicles produced by its parent.

The company's Eagle View System provides drivers with 360-degree, real-time images of surrounding vehicles. This type of system has only been used on the Infiniti luxury cars, but Altek hopes to improve the technology and make it more affordable.

Randy Lan, project manager of the automotive marketing division at Altek, claims that the 360-degree view system uses cameras installed around a vehicle (one in the grill, two on the side mirrors, and one on tailgate, with each capturing images up to two meters in distance). With the supports from Altek's view-angle shifting and automatic image adjustment technologies, drivers can see the 360-degree images on an in-car display.

Lan stresses that both the precision level and cost/performance ratio of the Taiwan-developed 360-degree view system are better than Japanese counterparts. Altek also has developed the ECU for a bird's-eye-view system. In the future, Altek will continue to develop several advanced vehicle safety systems using the company's image-processing technology, such as front/rear anti-collision systems, he says.

Auto Rain Sensor

Already an OE supplier to most automakers in Taiwan, Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp., proved its world-class ability by showcasing a self-developed auto rain sensor (utilizing patented soft prism), making it the world's fifth supplier of such part, following TRW, Valeo, Borsch, and Denso.

Shihlin's auto rain sensor is only about one-third the size of major counterparts, and is less costly as well, thanks to its patented prism technology. A company official said that the greatest advantage of the auto-rain sensor for both automakers and general consumers is that the soft prism can be directly attached to the front windshield without the need to replace the original windshield. Other auto rain sensor system needs to be used with specially made windshields, further increasing the total system cost.

Such technologies are helping Taiwan to steadily catch up with advanced nations in the automotive industry.

Electric Vehicles

Another major demonstration theme at the display is battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs). Yulon Motor and Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (PMMC) showcased market-ready BEVs. The former, the Luxgen7 EV, is powered by a 180kw system jointly developed by Yulon and AC Propulsion of the U.S. It can reach speeds up to 145 kilometer per hour (kph) and a cruising range of 300 kilometers (using about 5,500 18650-type lithium-ion power cells). The latter is more compact, using more than 1,990 18650 cells self-produced by PMMC's affiliated Pihsiang Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (PHET). This model has a maximum speed of 80 kph and a cruising range of 85km to 125km (or 150km to 220km with extra batteries).

The Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (MIRDC), a member of the Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC), displayed a fancy two-seat light electric vehicle (LEV) model with several advanced techniques, including an advanced EV body-frame design, hydro-forming to reduce the weight of the vehicle frame, magnesium forged wheels, electric scissor-type side doors, and anti-bacterial film-plating technology (with a sterilization efficiency of 99.99%).

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), another key member of the TARC, and a private maker jointly display their production-ready three-wheel LEV model based on a diamond-shaped chassis tailored for personal urban transportation. The high mobility vehicle is lightweight and safe.