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Autodesk

Mike Lucas, Autodesk business development manager Manufacturing Solutions Northern Europe and Graeme Berry, Autodesk channel manager, Alias Design

What technological trends do you think could concern your customers in the car industry of 2018?

From a software point of view, the whole concept of digital prototyping will be exploited to the full with products being designed, visualised, tested and even sold before they are manufactured.

Cars will be tested for assembly/disassembly, maintenance and simulation of running conditions in a virtual world, before the real one. A realistic digital model complete with simulation will then be used to sell the idea – either in order to gain funding or to the consumer – and offering the possiblity of extreme customisation.

In general, the whole issue of CO2 emissions will be a major driving force with stringent government intervention to ensure reduction. Of course, automotive and transportation companies are already selling cars based on their green appeal. But over the next decade, the focus will move on from just looking at the vehicle itself, to the entire environmental impact of its lifecycle; for example taking into account its manufacture, running costs and the cost of disposing of the vehicle.

Recycling will be an integral part of the whole design and this will prompt experimentation with completely different materials - plus the materials that we use today, but in a different way. In other words, we won’t just be thinking about using natural products for fuel but also for body parts or internal panels. More carbon fibre, for example, and other materials that, at the end of their life, can be dissolved back into their original components to be reused in a new production.

We may also see nano-technology techniques make inroads into tradtional material use.

How will automotive engineer’s working lives be different? What skills/specialisms will be important?

As with some industries already, we will move back to smaller, more agile businesses that can adapt faster to changing needs. In fact, we may see a return to a community structure where the internet will drive unprecedented collaboration between consumers and engineers.

Ideas will emerge from the communities which the engineers will strive to commercialise. And these engineers themselves may start to become home-based, working on a design, or engineering a specific piece of a vehicle. We can foresee the day when the OEM just provides the name and badge, but the design, manufacture, build sale, marketing and service are all done by various smaller companies.

Many areas that are somewhat peripheral today – such as stress analysis and metallurgy – will move centre stage as they begin to play a greater role in the design process. This will be caused by the need to on the one hand use less materials, but on the other increase safety.

In contrast, because the concept of a digital world will permeate everyday lives, people will demand ever more realistic and sometimes fantastic gaming experiences. Engineers will be able to track these ideas and try out new concepts in car rally/racing games and seek feedback from the community of players. The results could then be incoprorated into commercial car designs.

How will your products and business sector develop?

We foresee that Autodesk’s strategy of democratising the design process will really begin to bear fruit. The availability of tools (such as the DWF format) that facilitate collaboration by enabling users to view data in 3D over the web, means consumers can play a more proactive role in the creation of their products.

As a result, we will see a rise in “lifestyle” cars and cool, cult designs - with an emphasis on emotive appeal. Engineers will stop focusing solely on the look of a car and consider the other senses such as sound, touch and smell.

Taking this one stage further, we may see customers logging onto the Autodesk server to use applications that they need as part of a specific workflow. This could include all manner of interoperable applications for testing and analysing – and the result will be that 3D files hold far more data than they do today. This will include full descriptions of the component and its history.

Users won’t actually own these applications – but use them rather as we do with electricity and gas. At the end of the month or quarter users will be billed for exactly what they use.

Where do you see the big opportunities to improve engineering and engineers’ working lives in 2018?

Certainly, if we begin to work this way, automotive companies would begin to save significant costs in software investment and maintenance - plus, the type of hardware they will need. It will mean a new and exciting sales model for software vendors – but Autodesk is well positioned for this challenge.

Digital prototypes will also prove invaluable and we predict that applications will become increasingly intuitive with artificial intelligence guiding the user to the best solution within the given parameters. Working digitally also means less time on geometry, manual calculations and physical prototyping – so there’s more time to focus on the design and business development.

And, of course, the big plus to working with digital prototypes is that, because they make it possible to experience the design before it is real, it is easier to get support from investors and so be able to fund the design in the first place.

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