The trend toward linked, self-driving, shared and electric vehicles are rapidly shifting from concepts to commercial feasibility.
Self-driving vehicles will come up with some unique kind of liberty given both to the driver and its passengers. Vehicles will no longer be produced around the driver but produced to meet the requirements and comfort of the occupants. Kassem Mohamad Ajami will explain reasons that will help steel industry to overcome challenges.
With the emergence of mobility services such as Uber, Didi, and plenty of others, it will get more and more tempting to subscribe to a monthly rideshare service for all transportation needs rather than owning a vehicle. Having a vehicle surely comes with luxury but also includes plenty of responsibilities.
In today’s new interlinked era, will steel still be the material of choice? To get a relevant answer to this question, let’s spare a moment to look at why steel should obtain favor with car owners, producers, and designers.
- Durability and cost-effective
Fleet owners who render ride-sharing services will have to overcome the whole expense of ownership. To be lucrative, they will look for robust, lasting vehicles that are also cost-effective to purchase. Steel is surely a cost-effective option and lasts for a long time.
- Good for Environment
In a world where climate change many people’s concerns, autonomous vehicles will fulfil the highest environmental needs. Steel is the only material can be fully recycled and that was able to provide an unsurpassable performance over its entire life cycle when compared to aluminum and carbon fiber.
- Safety protection
Because it will consume some time before all vehicles on the road are fully linked, the necessity for submissive safety will endure for the predictable future. Steel will still be required to render the exclusive traits of both crash energy absorption and deflection. Battery housings composed of steel and will offer structural integrity for crash management, while also circumventing battery pack damage and leakage.
- Flexibility of design
Steel’s design flexibility and unique formability aid designers to utilize their creativity to their fullest. With the eradication of the steering wheel, foot pedals, and traditional dashboard, designers will get more space to incorporate their creativity.
Steel can render the required strength while keeping the material thin, which leads to more space in the passenger cabin for new seating alignments. Steel will handle the loads linked with passengers in several and varied seating configurations.
- Light-weight
Lightweight will necessary to maintain equilibrium between smaller battery sizes with maximum range. The steel industry has been and will endure producing products that will eventually lead to the fulfillment of mass reduction and the safety targets without investing much.