Tokyo Motor Show 2017: Plastics utilized for autonomous driving and electric vehicle components

Plastic parts and materials exhibited were designed for specific applications

2017/12/06

Summary
EV systems/engine components/fuel tanks: Mahle, Schaeffler, Keihin, Yachiyo Industry, etc.
Shock absorber/brake system: KYB, Aisin, HKT, NTN
Autonomous driving and telecommunication systems: Toyoda Gosei, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Omron, etc.
Body/door/interior: Toyota Industries, U-SHIN, Tokai Rika, Motherson, etc.

Summary

The 45th Tokyo Motor Show 2017, with the theme of "BEYOND THE MOTOR", was held from October 25to November 5, 2017 at Tokyo's Big Sight exhibition center. The exhibition was considered a great success. According to the event organizer, the number of visitors totaled 771,200 (the previous exhibition was 812,500).

The latest trend in the automotive industry has been the accelerated shift to vehicle electrification and autonomous driving technologies. Technological advances in these areas depend upon similar advances in the technologies used in automotive components such as sensors, cameras, control devices, and inverters. For electric vehicles with large capacity battery requirements, the need for additional weight savings is expected to continue to increase as more components are installed in the vehicle. The increased use of plastic components is expected to serve as an effective solution to reduce the weight of the vehicle.

This report covers a number of key products exhibited by parts suppliers that are gaining attention in the industry such as plastic parts, and was written in cooperation with Mr. Takeo Yasuda, Director of the Yasuda Polymer Research Institute. Although there were fewer plastic-related new topics at the Tokyo Motor Show compared to a plastics Technology Expo, the latest automotive parts were exhibited, mainly related to vehicle electrification and autonomous driving. This report will focus on introducing trends in engineering plastics technology for the two topics.