DENSO showcases the future of mobility at IAA 2019

DENSO, the world’s second largest mobility supplier, showcased its latest developments to the world of mobility at the 68th IAA auto show in Frankfurt.

The key focus areas at the DENSO stand were convenience and comfort, which DENSO believes will become crucial elements for mobility providers in the future.

DENSO and its start-up partners MAAS, Ridecell, Canatu, Bond mobility and Joled highlighted solutions that will help to pick up the pace of innovation across the automotive sector.

Hisaaki Sato, President and CEO of DENSO in the European Region explained: “In this dramatically changing landscape, our goal is to maximise our contribution to society and, most of all, our commitment to exceeding expectations.”

In the paradigm shift towards Connected, Automated, Shared and Electrified mobility, DENSO sees comfort and convenience as the most important areas for development. This is why DENSO sees thermal management as one of its most important focus areas.

The importance of thermal technology is demonstrated by DENSO's latest heat exchangers. Managing heat flux from the powertrain and providing comfort inside of the cabin are fundamental processes that date back to the very first steps in mobility as we know it today. “As the industry moves towards electrification and autonomous driving, users will come to value convenience and comfort even more”, explained Marco Di Rao, CEO of DENSO Thermal Systems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “It will play a major role in determining customer satisfaction in the future.”

DENSO's goal is to enhance the mobility experience, so that customers can enjoy the efficient usage of electric energy and a perfectly conditioned cabin. DENSO's latest heat pump system is the best way to illustrate this. A heat pump system is basically “air-conditioning in reverse”.

A regular AC removes heat out of a hot cabin and transfers it to the warm summer environment outside. In winter, this process is reversed and a heat pump system pumps energy extracted from the cold environment into the cabin to warm it up. The system uses the same AC compressor, and the energy used is added to the amount taken from the environment, providing heating to the cabin.

This is particularly useful in electric vehicles, which cannot rely on excess heat from the motor to keep the cabin warm in the winter. It's easy to see the advantages over the use of electric heaters, which are much less efficient. In electric vehicles, improved efficiency translates directly into an extended driving range. DENSO's heat pump and thermal management technology has a significant impact on electrification, comfort, range, and environmental performance.

Marco Di Rao: “First of all, a heat pump system for an electric vehicle has multiple roles. It not only controls the temperature inside the cabin and the battery, both in summer and winter, but also the electric gear which is sensitive to high temperature levels. So I would say that the heat pump and thermal management are key enablers of the electrification of mobility. Secondly, the heat pump helps to resolve the “either/or” dilemma of comfort versus range. Any solution that allows for the more efficient use of the energy stored in the car battery is undoubtedly greener and, ultimately, benefits society as a whole.”

DENSO's key focus on comfort and convenience is evident in the area of hardware and software solutions for mobility services. DENSO's recently announced collaborations with technology partners demonstrate how it is seeking to pick up the pace of innovation. Five of these partners will be part of the DENSO exhibition, and DENSO will also be displaying the Delft Driverless Car - a fully autonomous racing car that has been developed by students at the Dutch university of Delft.

The 5 technology partners who will be attending are:

MAAS (Mobility As A Service) brings every kind of transport together into a single intuitive mobile app. It seamlessly combines transport options from different providers, handling everything from travel planning to payments. Whether you prefer to buy journeys on demand or subscribe to an affordable monthly package, MaaS can manage your travel requirements in the smartest way possible.

MaaS is a Finnish company that offers a hassle-free and environmentally sound alternative to private car ownership. It makes worries about route planning, parking, and car maintenance a thing of the past, helping you go places more easily and more efficiently than ever before. Through this partnership, DENSO is also gaining valuable insights into the direct interface with users through transportation services.

Ridecell is a US-based leading “enabler” of car sharing and ride hailing. The collaboration combines Ridecell's vehicle fleet software platform with DENSO products and technologies which are designed for connected vehicles. Collaboratively developed micro-services are software components that make car-sharing and ride-hailing services more convenient.

Bond mobility is an urban micromobility service that operates dockless e-bike share schemes in Switzerland and provides people with clean, easy and safe short-range transportation options. This unique technology allows DENSO to speed up its Mobility As A Service (MAAS) model, thereby drastically reducing emissions.

Canatu supplies Carbon NanoBud films and transparent touch sensors similar to those used in touch screens for phones and tablet devices. As cars become more connected, there is an increasing need to find more effective ways to deliver critical information to drivers while enabling them to stay focused on the road. JOLED's in-vehicle displays are thinner and lighter, and offer improved visibility, higher definition images, dynamic design and more efficient operation.

Joled is a developer of printed organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays which are used for human-machine interfaces (HMIs) in car cockpits, delivering key driving information to the driver quickly and accurately. DENSO's collaboration with JOLED aims to accelerate the advancement of human-machine interfaces. These technologies are critical to keeping drivers informed safely when they are behind the wheel. Working with JOLED will help us create a new mobility future that's safer for everyone, maximizes efficiency and applies smart problem-solving innovations in the real world.

Delft Driverless Car. As part of its key focus on autonomous driving, DENSO is proud to support Formula Student Team Delft. Last year, students at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands took up the challenge of building a fully autonomous electric racing vehicle as part of an international driverless competition. Formula Student Team Delft teamed up with students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and after eight months of hard work they recently unveiled their vehicle at a ceremony in the city of Delft. The fully autonomous racing car will participate in several races later this year, and will also be on display at the DENSO stand in Frankfurt.

The President and CEO of DENSO International Europe Hisaaki Sato said: “We are very aware that in the near future there may be greater demand for mobility services rather than vehicle ownership. This will require new skills and expertise. By collaborating with start-up partners and technical universities such as Delft, we're looking at how consumers respond and studying how we can improve existing services. We're constantly trying to discover how we can take these to a higher level. That's part of DENSO's commitment to ‘kaizen', our commitment to continuously improve. And this is why we are always looking for new highly skilled partners who want to help shape the future of mobility with us - especially here in Germany where we have several R&D centres and production facilities.”