Africa Automotive May-June digital issue 2019

David Paja,
president of advanced safety, Aptiv
Big adoption curve
in Auto safety technology
The European Union reached a
decision to implement tougher
safety regulations, which will
have implications for vehicle
connectivity technology. The so-called
General Safety Regulation (GSR) still
requires final approval by ministers of
the 28 EU member states, but many
automotive suppliers expect that,
once it takes effect in 2022, advanced
safety technology will quickly
spread from mostly premium vehicles
today to lower market segments as
well.
In an interview with automotive IT
International, David Paja, President,
Advanced Safety and User Experience,
at automotive supplier Aptiv,
discussed the impact of the EU rules
and the role of safety technologies
in a changing industry. Paja’s division
makes components and systems for
infotainment and connectivity, body
controls and security systems, as well
as active and passive safety electronics
and autonomous driving software.
With autonomous vehicles likely to
become the norm in the next 20
years or so, how long will we still
need active safety technology? After
all, these systems are designed to
compensate for the shortcomings of a
driver, who may not be at the wheel
a few years from now?
In many ways these are building
blocks. In robo-taxis you won’t need
these systems, but in Level 3 vehicles
the driver still takes over control once
in a while. Driver-assistance systems
such as radar and cameras are
building blocks toward full automated
solutions. There will be a lot of re-use
of these technologies in fully automated
vehicles. Also, bear in mind
that not all vehicles will become autonomous
in the near future. From a
business-case point of view, it makes
more sense, for example, to automate
16 Africa Automotive News l 2019 May-June issue l 2019