2021 Munich Auto Show | See the high-tech booths of Bosch, Continental, Magna and Mahle

The IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) was previously known as the Frankfurt Motor Show, but this year's IAA will not be held in Frankfurt, but will be hosted in Munich for the first time (September 7-12, local time).

So the IAA, which reopened after more than two years, has transformed into the Munich Motor Show (IAA MOBILITY, the German International Automotive and Smart Mobility Expo). This year's IAA has a theme of "Smart Mobility". In addition to being the base camp of traditional OEMs such as BBA, it is also the base camp of parts and technology manufacturers such as Bosch, Continental, and Mahle.

As the saying goes, "laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the doorway". If you want to understand the technological trends in the automotive industry, you may really want to visit the booths of parts manufacturers. Let's take a look at these future automotive technologies from their exhibits.

Bosch: L4 automatic parking and hydrogen fuel cells

Bosch has the largest scale and exhibits, and every time they bring new technologies in various fields, such as driver assistance and autonomous driving, as well as vehicle networking.

Bosch and nine project partners will showcase future-oriented parking technology at the IAA. This L4 automatic parking system developed in cooperation with Mercedes-Benz has a great chance of becoming popular in the future.

When parking, you only need to get off at the entrance of the parking lot, and then give instructions through the smartphone, and the vehicle can automatically park at the designated location without the need for driver monitoring. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class can automatically search for parking spaces and reduce the risk of collisions during parking, saving time and relieving stress for car owners.

Hydrogen fuel cells are an important investment direction for Bosch. They believe that automotive fuel cells can extend driving range and shorten refueling time, especially for long-distance driving and commercial vehicles. The use of green hydrogen (non-chemical hydrogen) also enables fuel cells to achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles.

Last year, Bosch cooperated with Swedish professional company Powercell to develop fuel cell stack technology. The mass production of fuel cell stacks is scheduled to start in 2022, and the hydrogen power module will be launched in 2023. In addition, China's Wuxi Hydrogen Fuel Cell Center has also started mass production, producing all test equipment from stacks to fuel cell systems and stack sample trial production lines.

Continental: Server-based vehicle architecture and autonomous driving

2021 marks the 150th anniversary of Continental. In the future, Continental's technology focus will be on server-based vehicle architecture and autonomous driving. In addition, Continental is also focusing on autonomous driving for private and fleet vehicles.

Specific technologies include radar sensors, camera technology, lidar, as well as high-performance computers for autonomous driving, full-stack software, cabin monitoring and human-machine interaction solutions. Continental will have demonstrations of automatic and driverless parking at the IAA site, and will also showcase a particularly sustainable concept tire.

The airbag control unit developed by Continental has been around for 40 years, and more than 350 million airbag control units have been produced and delivered worldwide. Now Continental will add more occupant protection functions to the airbag control unit.

In the past, airbags were deployed only after a collision occurred, but for side collisions, every millisecond of reaction time is critical. Future control systems will become smarter, with the goal of deploying airbags earlier and in a more controlled manner.

In the future, airbag control units will also incorporate sensing of the electric vehicle battery to warn the driver of possible battery damage (and subsequent fire risk) after a bump or collision.

Magna: Intelligent electric drive and digital ICON radar

Magna's headquarters is not in Germany, but its R&D center and a large number of companies are also in Germany, such as the Getrag gearbox we are familiar with, so IAA can be regarded as half of Magna's home court.

Magna will showcase its eDrive electric drive technology, which will be installed in a new mass-produced model that will be launched in 2022. Through the intelligent electrified powertrain, the driving range can be increased by up to 145 kilometers. There is also a connected plug-in hybrid Etelligent Eco.

It is no news that Apple and LG are making cars, and the industry chain and technical support behind LG is Magna. At IAA, Magna demonstrated the Etelligent Force all-electric four-wheel drive system using eBeam™ technology, which is one of the first research and development results of the joint venture between Magna and LG Electronics.

Based on the difference between ordinary millimeter-wave radar and lidar, digital radar will assist autonomous driving in the future due to its technical reliability and lower cost than lidar.

Magna's ICON digital radar will be available in 2022. Compared with current analog radars, this radar enhances the vehicle's ability to "see" its surroundings and detect potential hazards - whether it is a stalled vehicle in a dark tunnel or a pedestrian 150 meters away.

MAHLE: Fast charging technology and magnetless motor

Another technology giant headquartered in Germany, it makes people sigh how advanced Germany's high-end manufacturing is. At the IAA exhibition, Mahle showcased its charging technology, battery systems and motors.

Mahle's "chargeBIG POWER" fast charging system has a rated power of up to 750kW. As for how to solve the problem of battery heating during fast charging, Mahle has found a solution - immersion cooling.

In an immersion cooling system, a non-conductive coolant circulates around the battery cells, cables and all connectors to the battery. This helps reduce the battery's maximum temperature and improves heat distribution inside the battery, extending battery life.

MAHLE's new magnetless motor is a breakthrough in motor development and achieves the high efficiency of permanent magnet motors - an efficiency of more than 95%, a value currently only achieved by Formula E racing cars. Magnetless motors can be used in a wide variety of vehicles, from small cars to trucks.