We welcome you to the inaugural edition of WorldAutoSteel Update – a periodic summary of our recent initiatives. These bulletins are designed to spotlight timely news and information about how steel is helping to drive the future of sustainable mobility.
WorldAutoSteel is the automotive group of the World Steel Association. Our mission is to advance and communicate steel’s unique abilities to support the automotive industry with sustainable and economically advantageous steel solutions. We work with and on behalf of our 18 member companies, which are among the world’s largest producers of automotive steel.
Over the past three decades, we’ve invested more than €100 million in groundbreaking research, benchmarking studies, and concept programs designed to support advances in automotive steel. We are recognized as a center of expertise for innovating steel solutions for the next generation of mobility, and, as such, we proudly make our engineering studies and resulting data freely available to the industry.
Our key activities include:
- Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) Guidelines: A comprehensive and no-cost online technical database for the successful application of AHSS steels
- Steel Research Programs: Initiatives designed to advance innovations in steel, such as the Steel E-Motive autonomous Mobility as a Service vehicle concept. This program is the most recent WorldAutoSteel research initiative – an in-depth structural study for the world’s first fully autonomous, battery-electric ride-sharing vehicle
- Sustainability: Modeling tools and case studies that demonstrate that steel is the sustainable choice for automotive applications. WorldAutoSteel is a leading advocate and technical resource for life cycle assessment, the best method for understanding a product’s true environmental impact
We look forward to providing these updates regularly. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about our initiatives and programs on our website, www.worldautosteel.org.
Sincerely,
Cees ten Broek, Director, WorldAutoSteel
Steel E-Motive Program Update
Since the launch of Steel E-Motive in 2023, WorldAutoSteel has communicated the program’s impressive technical results at importan
t global mobility and industry events. In 2024, the program team is conducting Technical Transfer meetings with original equipment manufacturers, tier one suppliers, and other mobility providers. These sessions are designed to provide participants with key technical program details, including steel material selections and usage, crash data, and other significant engineering results. This information can also be found in the program’s engineering report, freely available for download here: Steel E-Motive Engineering Report
WorldAutoSteel Student Projects
WorldAutoSteel has a long history of collaborating with universities worldwide to partner on student capstone projects. Working with engineering students helps solve complex program challenges and encourages promising careers in the steel industry.
We recently completed a Capstone project with Michigan Technological University, where a senior team of mechanical engineering students developed a goods storage locker system to enable the conversion of SEM2 from a people hauler to a goods delivery vehicle, expanding the revenue potential for the Mobility Service Owner.
Our newest adventure is a 10-week Student Interior Design Competition with Tecnologico de Monterrey in partnership with WorldAutoSteel member Ternium. Eighty industrial design and engineering students are developing interior concepts that further the applicability and personality of Steel E-Motive’s ride-sharing mission.
Winners will be announced at the International Mobility Summit of the Future in Monterrey, Mexico 27-28 June. The winning team will be awarded a trip to Detroit, Michigan, USA, to visit iconic automotive and historical landmarks throughout the city.
Visit t
he AHSS Application Guidelines Online Database
WorldAutoSteel’s Advanced High-Strength Steel Application Guidelines Version 7.0 is readily accessible at ahssinsights.org. The guidelines are a free, searchable database of technical best practices for AHSS metallurgy, forming, and joining.
This database has received remarkable industry attention, where access includes links to industry presentations, research papers and innovative industrial processes. Check-out the monthly blogs contributed by our team of technical editors, members, academicians and fabrication process experts.
About Our Work in Life Cycle Assessment
Without life cycle assessment throughout the vehicle development process, vehicle design and material selections may have the unintended consequence of increasing life cycle emissions. We continue to work with regulators to ensure that future automotive emissions regulations include a life cycle perspective. Later this year, we will release the latest update to the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB)/WorldAutoSteel Automotive Greenhouse Gas and Energy Model. Stay tuned for updates in our newsletter and on our LinkedIn page.
Follow Us on LinkedIn
WorldAutoSteel shares helpful information about the use of steel in automotive manufacturing on our LinkedIn page, so if you’re not following us there, please consider adding us to your feed.
We recently shared a post on Steel E-Motive’s seven key technology innovations that are only possible using steel. These innovations utilize the newest steel grades and fabrication processes to achieve significant safety, comfort, cost, and sustainability advantages in these concepts. Take a look here: 7 Innovations
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