Designing the Cars of the Future

According to Continental Automotive's Bill Kozyra, the cars of the future will be super-efficient—and they may even drive themselves

by Bradley Berman

Carmakers spend big bucks to establish their brands as leaders in the race toward greater fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. Yet many of the eco-friendly and high-tech innovations in our vehicles begin in the research and development departments of large auto suppliers—the companies that supply components and systems to automobile manufacturers.

For example, you might know Continental Automotive Systems as a maker of tires, but you probably don't know its role in the development of next-generation hybrids, diesels, lithium batteries, stability control, and wireless connectivity technologies for automobiles. Bradley Berman, editor of HybridCars.com, spoke with William Kozyra, president and CEO, Continental Automotive Systems North America, which is a subsidiary of German tire giant Continental (CONG), about what he sees as the three largest trends in automotive technology: "sustainability, safety, and connectivity."

This interview series about the future of the car is produced in collaboration with Auto FutureTech Summit 2008, a gathering of leading auto industry executives to discuss critical environmental and energy issues. Auto FutureTech will take place in Vancouver, B.C., from Mar. 12-14, 2008.

What's your projection for the growth of the hybrid car market?

I'm very optimistic that hybrids will continue to grow in this country. Where we'll be in 5 or 10 years, I can't give you a percentage, but I can tell you that the current market—2.6% of new car sales—is going to grow every year.

We're spending tens of millions of dollars investing in these fields, from an engineering development standpoint. We're confident that our customers [the car companies] will be able to design in our hybrid systems, because what's ultimately going to drive positive change is the cost side. Unless OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] adopt consistent platforms across multiple car and truck lines, and we can be disciplined and offer that to multiple customers, it'll never achieve the economies of scale that are necessary for that technology to be fully exploited.

Continental is well positioned to support that growth with technology that we've developed, including for example the lithium ion battery technology that we're developing for General Motors (GM) for the Chevy Volt. We're General Motors' partners on the development of lithium ion. You'll see lithium ion batteries in production here at the end of next year, and the development is going quite well.

When you say "in production," you mean the batteries and the battery systems will be in production. But will they be placed in a production vehicle?

Absolutely.

By the end of next year?

Yeah. Specifically in the Chevrolet Volt in late 2009.

What's your response to critics who say there are too many issues related to safety, cost, and battery life for lithium ion automobile batteries?

We're dealing with all those issues and have been for some years now. We believe that, along with our development partners like General Motors, we have found solutions to deal with those issues and are quite optimistic about the expanded use of lithium ion as a great alternative power source for these vehicles.

Where does conventional technology fit in, for example, low-resistance tires?

That's all part of the equation. When we look at the total range of Continental production, we do everything from low-resistance tires to lightweight solutions in many areas, all of which go to improve fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.