GMIC PANEL: THE FUTURE OF AUTO TECH IN CHINA
Automobile technology is one of the most underreported segments of tech journalism, in my opinion. As Felix Scharf, Head of New Mobility of Volkswagen, put it at the GMIC panel on mobile internet behind the wheel Wednesday, “Cars are the most complex consumer products out there. After that, it's just rocket science.”
So when I got the chance to sit down and speak to Carsten Isert, BMW's head of research in China, I jumped on the opportunity. BMW just opened it's 4th and newest global research facility in Shanghai late last year.
“We try to have more like a startup spirit there: close short connections and good cooperation, everything small and innovative, try to make things fast,” Isert says. “You don't have a big company spirit there, which you more or less don't get in Germany.”
What's coming to China's roads in the next few years? To be honest, not much you won't see in the Western markets, first. Isert says he doesn't see China becoming the first priority as long as BMW's headquarters remains in Munich. The big eye-catchers—remote control vehicles, self-driving cars, electric motors with range extenders, et cetera—will all probably be available in Europe and the US first.
But the demographics of Chinese car-buyers do have some advantages, according to Isert.
“Chinese customers are generally very open to innovation,” he says. “They're very technology oriented, and the customers are much younger.”
That means in some cases, such as mobile technology, new functions actually favor the Chinese market. It's up to Isert and his team to give those 7 Series-driving 40-and-unders what they want. He says the process for integrating a smartphone app is much faster than researching and developing a new engine or chassis. Whereas a new function typically takes three years of research and three years of development before it's put into cars on the road, mobile technologies can take as little as three months altogether, Isert explains.
Aside from that, not all the tech put into Western models can just be ported haphazardly to their Chinese counterparts. They first have to be localized specifically for Chinese drivers and road conditions. Isert used traffic jam assist, which allows your car to take control and drive for you on congested roads, as an example. You wouldn't want the computer that waits in line for a toll booth on the New Jersey turnpike to be the same as the one getting you out of Worker's Stadium after a football match.
“This is a thing that is not so easily transported to China,” says Isert. “Of course we are working on it, but due to the different traffic situations, it cannot be taken as it is to China.”
And of course, Isert isn't just looking to implement new tech in China, but to find the tech coming from here to give to the global market. What might that include? Isert was hush-hush about most of his research, so we'll just have to wait and see.