The auto industry's accelerating move to self-driving cars means that the vehicle is about to become another living and working space for people on the move. Yanfeng Automotive Interiors CEO Johannes Roters sees this shift as a "huge opportunity" for his company, but he knows YFAI cannot succeed without help from a growing number of partners. He explained why in an interview with Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc.
How is YFAI dealing with the move toward autonomous cars?
Autonomous driving gives us huge opportunities because we're talking about the next living space. This living space needs functions and connections. Also, if the car runs itself, all of a sudden you have more time available. Then the question is, what will you do with the time.
How are these changes beneficial to your business?
These changes are helping our business because the interior will become a differentiator. This will be true for private cars as well as car-sharing fleets and robotaxis.
What challenges come with this shift?
If you look at the interior, you cannot do this all by yourself. You need to be connecting technologies because the changes are extremely fast in today's world. A good solution is creating partnerships so you can bring different values together to create a new value. An example of this is the module we are doing together with [German mechatronic supplier] Kostal. They have the switch technology. We have the surface technology. We call this new-generation product the YaKoMo [short for Yanfeng Kostal module]. We see this collaboration reinforcing our position as an integrator for the interior. We are putting a bigger emphasis on partnerships.