The role of material characterisation in the future of automotive: roadmap, challenges and opportunities

Integration of electronics and functions in the materials is growing fast for automotive components. The capability of the integration will bring improvement of functions, enhancement of quality but at the same time it will request an increase in competences and know-how of technologies by OEM and suppliers as well. The "car of the future" will show elegant and ergonomic designs with embedded illumination, touch sensors, circuitry as well as aesthetical finishing surfaces. In the future, electronic products will be designed more freely, as electronic circuits could be printed on flexible foils instead of conventional rigid circuit boards. All these issues bring to reinforce the assessment and the qualification of the materials and components by robust characterization methodologies.