Denso International India is developing automotive solutions with sustenance and societal responsibility at the core of its strategy. Ashish Bhatia cites the mix of AI and software led MaaS capabilities at it’s disposal.
Denso International India Pvt. Ltd. is committed to the green and sustainable development of advanced automotive technologies. At the Auto Expo 2023 – The Components Show, the company showcased a wide range of solutions. It gave a sense of the strides made in electrification and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, for instance. The company has Joint Venture (JV) tier1 entities like Subros Ltd., Denso Ten Mindia Pvt. Ltd. (TNMI) and TDS Lithium-Ion Battery Gujarat Pvt. Ltd. (TDSC) which holds it in good stead. It also showcased a cold chain solution – MRF Mobile Refrigerator to tap into logistics trends and needs. The cold chain product addresses the need for alternative solutions as a result of growing ecommerce, overcoming restrictions on large vehicles and addressing the growing demand for cold chains.
The company plans to counter these developments with the facilitation of small and diversified packages, smaller vehicles for the gig economy and enhancing cold chain for medical products. The capabilities include offering different temperatures in the same vehicle. The company claims it can be do so without carrying out any modification. The value add for businesses is claimed to be offered with an easy installation process. The reefer box is offered in capacities ranging from 40 litres to 110 litres. The added benefits include data traceability through cloud integration and temperature control and monitoring facilitated on a smartphone.
Under the ‘Global Safety Package 3’, the company showcased a ‘millimetre-wave radar’. The radar senses the position and speed of vehicles and objects on the road. It also brings in a ‘vision sensor’ that detects the forward environment of the vehicle using a camera. Claimed to enhance the safety performance of the vehicle and the drive ability of the pilot itself as a formidable combination. The company has developed the third generation of GSP. It is claimed to play a significant role in the event of an intersection collision of a car, pedestrian or cycle before turning, assist in deceleration of a curve and cautions on a red traffic signal. The radar detection is claimed to be 156m or more with an angle of 51.6 degrees. The company has also enhanced velocity resolution besides succeeding at reducing components to less than half in comparison to conventional products. The company can down size by ~40 per cent and also has improved its mounting capability.
In November 2022, Denso International India Pvt. Ltd. (Denso India) signed an Rs.400 crore sustainability loan from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The two entities back then committed to a bound, sustainability-linked loan to meet the working capital requirements of three Indian Denso Corporation subsidiaries linked to achieving voluntary and predetermined sustainability performance objectives. Aimed at contributing to India’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the company had announced that the move was a step in the direction to secure necessary financial resources to facilitate and support environmentally and socially sustainable economic activity and growth. The company is committed to net zero carbon emissions with a long-term goal to achieve carbon neutrality without the use of carbon credits by 2035. By 2025, the company aims to attain carbon neutrality with carbon credits in the manufacturing operations of three of its Indian subsidiaries. The focus will be on using renewable energy to run the factories and deploy energy conservation measures. According to a statement by Yasuaki Matsunaga, Chairman and Managing Director, of Denso India, the company is leading the industry toward realising an environmentally neutral manufacturing industry, thereby creating a sustainable society.Committed to contributing even when the business environment is uncertain, notably, the SMBC loan, India’s first ESG loan will have the latter monitor the progress through achievements on pre-agreed milestones of sustainability set by Denso. If the targets are achieved, there is an incentive too. The margins could be reduced (lower interest rate). The company going forward is also looking at diversification into offering increased fuel efficiency of ICE to EVs, HCVs, and FCVs. The company will also develop systems for collecting and reusing CO2, in the atmosphere. to cover emissions from mobility products.
Making A Difference
In an Industry Talk session, Yukihiko Noda, Deputy Managing Director, R&D and Shinya Watanabe, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer, Sales and Marketing spoke to Ashish Bhatia on making socially relevant solutions, specifically for India.
Q. How do you look at the Indian market and what’s the sentiment on growth prospects?
A. India is the third largest mobility country in the world. The government is giving a strong push to electrification and safety. For us, it is the priority country. We would like to make our contribution in building a safe, secure and sustainable society. The products are related to Connected Autonomous Shared and Electric (CASE). We are here to change the brand perception of Denso from an erstwhile powertrain and hardware-related products-only company. We are here to introduce social solutions beyond just hardware but Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) that combine hardware and software. We are introducing the cold reefer chain as one of the examples. In the future, we will work with our partners to contribute to an even greater extent.
Q. How do you plan to enhance the MaaS bouquet?
A. I’d like to say that MaaS at this moment is just a buzzword! Our products will be optimised in that direction. We are concentrating on the cold chain business and going forward we will penetrate deeper into the mobility segment with our offerings. We understand that innovation is very important to us. We are studying the Indian market to look at the social issues and areas where we can contribute in the future. The engineering department is looking at the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electrification including MaaS and solutions like Advanced Drive Assistance Systems (ADAS). We are active globally on these fronts. We collaborated with insurance companies and used our solutions to study driving patterns to enhance efficiencies in line with the Indian government’s vision to attain a ‘zero-accident’ level. Going beyond ADAS, drivers will be able to use our solutions to enhance their driving itself. Our R&D centre is developing multiple solutions and we are looking at ways of leveraging this capability at our disposal. We will understand India-specific needs together with OEMs to understand the unique set of requirements for custom solutions over just offering plug-and-play solutions. We expect to leverage internal mechanisms for a quick go-to-market strategy.
Q. What are the growth and challenge areas as the market evolves at an unprecedented pace?
A. Electrification is a big opportunity. ADAS is where by 2028, we expect the Indian government to at least mandate the installation of some functionalities. At that point, we expect demand to witness a spike and show our product portfolio-driven competence. Until then we will leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and software-led MaaS functions.
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