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NI Predicts Top Automotive Testing Issues for 2022

New transportation business unit general manager Drita Roggenbuck sees primary industry challenges this year.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

February 4, 2022

3 Min Read
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Image courtesy of NI

While Drita Roggenbuck is new in her role as senior vice president and general manager for NI’s Transportation Business Unit, she arrives with two decades worth of insight into the critical trends facing the industry. “Her insights into NI’s automotive customer’s challenges and their need to rapidly innovate in this dynamically changing market will help to inform our system road maps,” said Ritu Favre, executive vice president and general manager of NI’s Industry Specific Business Unit.

The significant areas she identifies for automotive testing are batteries and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). “Near term, our biggest impact will be there in that area of battery and in ADAS,” Roggenbuck said.

“There are some really cool things out there. There are one hundred battery EVs coming out by the end of 2024,” she said. “Testing has to be a part of launching these vehicles. It is amazing, at the rate they are moving. What the automotive companies will learn (from testing) will only enhance how they’ll bring their autonomous vehicles to market.”

The recent General Motors recall of Chevrolet Bolt EVs for battery fires serves as a timely reminder of how important testing and validation of batteries will be in the EV era. Fortuntely, NI already doubled down in this space with recent acquisitions of battery test instruments and systems firm NH Research as well as the EV Systems business of high-voltage power systems supplier Heinzinger, putting the company in a good position to help other OEMS avoid any such problems in the future.

“On the battery side, we’ve had some great acquisitions recently that brings in an industry leader and coupled with NI’s capabilities, will help validate batteries,” said Roggenbuck. “Those new batteries hitting the market are being tested to a high level of scrutiny.”

The Bolt battery problems resulted from assembly flaws, so improving manufacturing accuracy is also crucial. “The focus will really be on how we can help in the manufacturing realm as well,” she said.

Meanwhile, the industry is suffering from semiconductor shortages, and Roggenbuck predicts that automotive OEMs will seek to reduce exposure to this problem through integration of systems into few processor chips to are responsible for more tasks.

“How can they make modules smarter, not using as many semiconductors?” Roggenbuck asked. “How they optimize the use of these semiconductors will only help with possible future shortages. There are a lot of concepts out there of managing the supply chain. Understanding how to consolidate and how the supply chain is transformed will be the semiconductor solution in the near future.”

Meanwhile, Roggenbuck says that she will enjoy watching the industry’s shift to electric vehicles gain speed this year. “The amount of adoption of consumers has doubled in the last year,” she said. “I think 2022 is going to be a great year. It is going to be interesting to see how many of these vehicles will be on the road. By the end of 2025 I think it is going to be the norm.”

If so, that will be partly thanks to the ability of OEMs and suppliers being able to validate new designs through testing.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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