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16 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2018 needs some thought. For homeowners, install- ing an overnight charging station might be as simple as putting in a high-current circuit in the garage, but this becomes more complicated for a renter in a house or an apartment. If a car owner happens to live in a city and parks on the street, the concept of a home-charging station might be completely impossible. The future of vehicle electrification from the prospective of the electrical utility, the cyclic demands based on the daily workforce schedule combined with the high- load demands of fast charging present signif- icant new challenges for the electrical grid as well. If an entire work- force returns home at 5:00 p.m. and plugs in its electric vehicles around the same time, this shifts the timing of the typical peak demand on the grid and refocuses the regional peak consump- tion from heating or cooling toward transpor- tation. On the larger scale of a gas station, a collection of the superchargers for fast charg- ing will require an amount of energy like that of a medium-sized neighborhood. Indeed, the infrastructure required to enable or support autonomous and electric vehicles is a challenge. For autonomous vehicles, devel- oping the V2X applications and infrastructure and ensuring they can co-exist with existing infrastructure and vehicles presents other chal- lenges when it comes to scaling autonomous vehicles with a very low margin of error. Looking Ahead The government-mandated trend of elec- tric vehicles directly leads to growth in the complexity of vehicles and indirectly leads to an immediate need for growth in infrastructure. The next-generation automotive industry will drive the future of the grid, which will require smarter control systems. Turning this into real- ity represents a truly interdisciplinary chal- lenge to build safe and reliable control systems among other needs. To get this to market quickly would require an increased reliance on real-time test, production test, and ecosystem partners who have vertical expertise building tools on top of an industry-leading, flexible, and open platform. With the right tools, engineers can adapt to the disrup tive technologies vehicle electrification will require. Additionally, given the advancements in smart manufacturing that we are seeing taking place as well as increased R&D investments in Southeast Asian markets, the outlook for the automotive indus- try is, without a doubt, positive. Engineers are developing applications ranging from new vehi- cle technologies and capabilities for infotain- ment systems, in-vehi- cle networks and sensor fusion, to fully autono- mous driving, and V2X communications and infrastructure. Organizations as well are look- ing at addressing market needs and opportu- nities from smart grid, to management and distribution of power (the charging stations), to the electric car itself. For instance, many NI Alliance Partners enabled by NI technologies are helping to make autonomous driving and the electrification of vehicles a reality, faster, such as the test bed project NI is working with the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technol- ogy Centre in Singapore on. The shift to electrification certainly creates many new applications and those with a strong and keen focus on Industry 4.0 and smart cities would therefore be placing themselves in an advantageous position. Electrification of the automotive industry also means an increase in productivity as consumers could spend time doing things rather than driving. That is the smart future we are heading towards. SMT007 Chandran Nair is the vice president for Asia Pacific at National Instruments.