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SAA Announces the 2022 Mobility Innovation Award Winners

November 15, 2022 --The Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA) awarded its Mobility Innovation Awards during the Mobility Innovation Summit today. The winners included:

 

Innovations in Lightweighting Category:

First Place: BASF for its Lightweight Seat Structure which reduces weight by 20%, cost by 20%, and the number of components from more than 60 steel components to just four molded plastic parts. The structure is featured on the 2022 Toyota Tundra.

Second Place: Magna for its aluminum battery enclosure for the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning pickup. This is the largest lightweight aluminum battery enclosure on the market and the first in the full-size truck segment. The enclosure is 20% lighter than steel versions. 

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Photo caption:

SAA President Abey Abraham (far right) presents the first- place award in Innovations in Lightweighting to Matt Parkinson, Senior Manager, Application Development Engineering and Composite Technologies, BASF. Award judges Abe Vadhavkar and Lindsay Brooke are to the far left.

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Technologies Enabling a New Business Model Category:

First Place: Nexteer for its Steer-by-Wire with Stowable Steering Column which reinvents “behind-the-wheel” experiences and opens an untapped frontier of advanced safety and performance features for autonomous and traditional driving.

Second Place: May Mobility for its Accessible Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) Autonomous Vehicle with ADA-Compliant Wheelchair Ramp. S-AM is Toyota’s autonomous mobility as a service vehicle which features Toyota’s highly adaptable Vehicle Control Interface that enables seamless technology integration.

The Mobility Innovation Awards, sponsored by Ducker, were judged by a two-person panel consisting of:

  • Abhay (Abe) Vadhavkar, Retired Engineering Director
  • Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief of Automotive Engineeringand Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Magazines, SAE International

“The Mobility Innovation Awards provide us with the opportunity to recognize exceptional innovations that are developed anywhere in the world, and to encourage new ideas and perspectives,” said Abey Abraham, SAA President and Principal at Ducker. “As an industry, we have been forced to think out of the box, be collaborative and put aside the notion of ‘that is always how we have done it.’ Mobility is evolving quickly and this year’s entries showed that we are ready to evolve with it.”

Honorable Mention entries were also recognized. These entries included:

Innovations in Lightweighting Category:

  • Cooper Standard -- Fortrex Materials Platform
  • Teijin Automotive Technologies – Multi-Material EV Battery Enclosure
  • Magna -- 5-Cell Bumper
  • ILJIN USA – Hybrid Control Arm
  • Meridian Lightweight Technologies -- Magnesium Battery Charger Housing

Technology Enabling New Business Model Category:

  • Dana -- Spicer Electrified e-Propulsion and e-Power Systems
  • LexisNexis -- LexisNexis Owner Check
  • Solero Technologies -- Electric Vehicle Adaptive Lubrication Valve
  • WiTricity -- Magnetic Resonance Technology
  • Dana -- Metallic Bipolar Plates with Integrated Metal Bead Seal for Fuel Cells
  • Tata Elxsi – The Connected Vehicle Ecosystem Enabler
  • Sibros -- Deep Connected Platform
  • Airspace Experience Technologies -- ASX "S-Bot"
  • Drishti – AI-Driven Data for Improved Manufacturing Efficiency

 

About the Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA)

The SAA’s mission is to provide members timely access to automotive insights from a wide range of perspectives. The SAA aims to provide automotive professionals exclusive access to industry leaders, early insights and outstanding networking opportunities. SAA members include every automotive industry professional interested in timely and useful auto industry data, discussion and dissemination of ideas, concepts and solutions. For more information on the SAA, go to www.SAAauto.com.

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