Steel and the Future of Mobility

This post is sponsored by SMDI.

All opinions expressed in this piece are our own.

The future of mobility is a popular topic in the industry these days. Sustainable and Autonomous are the goals of many automotive manufacturers, while the rest of us are still waiting for our flying Jetsons cars. There is no shortage of new technology that goes into making those mobile solutions of the future work, but there is also a tried and true legacy material that is helping to make them all possible. Believe it or not, some of the biggest developments in the automotive industry are being made with Steel. Advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) to be more precise. Today there are more than 200 grades of steel available to ensure that automakers have the right grade to maximize performance in all applications. 

Nearly every new automobile that we test-drive here at Gunaxin has a compelling story about how new grades of steel were utilized to achieve engineering goals. More rigid chassis, thinner support pillars, lighter weight body, stronger crash protection, and better battery enclosures are just some of the steel stories that we’ve heard coming from the automotive industry in recent years, and that’s just the start of things to come. 

The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) works to differentiate steel based on its environmental performance and demonstrate steel as the highest value material in the automotive construction and packaging markets. We’re proud to be traveling with them during their fifth year as a premier sponsor of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit to learn more about how steel plays a structural role in the future of autonomous transportation. Media and industry attendees of NAIAS can visit the SMDI exhibit from January 14-17 to take a virtual ride in a vehicle of the future, highlighting advance high-strength steel’s vital role in the architecture of mobility. 

The SMDI exhibit will also feature a 2019 Acura RDX body-in-white, which allows visitors to compare the advanced high-strength steel structure of a current vehicle with the autonomous vehicle in the virtual reality experience. We’ll be reporting live from NAIAS via social media, so be sure to follow our feeds for the latest news coming from the Detroit Auto Show, and to learn how steel is playing a big part in the future of mobility.