The future of commercial vehicles addressed at world’s leading trade show for mobility
67th IAA Commercial Vehicles, world’s most important trade fair for transport, logistics and mobility, is taking place in Hannover, Germany, from September 20 to 27, 2018. The fair address questions such as what the future of commercial vehicles will be like, considering that the sector is on a path of innovation and transformation. The event proves that the sector, with automotive suppliers as key players, is facing up to the major challenges of the future: digitalisation, connectivity, automation and e-mobility.
IAA Commercial Vehicles, organised by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), a member of CLEPA, takes place every two years. The event gathers the most important stakeholders from the entire value chain in the industry, from vehicles to transport and logistics, including suppliers and manufacturers. This year, the 67th edition of IAA Commercial Vehicles was the largest edition of the event so far, with the exhibition covering 282,000 square meters. Since 2016, the number of exhibitors has risen to 2,174, coming from 48 countries. These numbers prove that the international commercial vehicle markets are in a good form. Automotive suppliers play a key role in the innovation and transformation of the sector, and their pivotal role was seen in numerous innovative showcases.
This year’s edition of IAA Commercial Vehicles concentrated on the question of how transport and logistics can transform into a more efficient, greener and smarter sector. Suppliers, manufacturers, technologists and other stakeholders focused on the topics of digitalisation, automation, connectivity, safety, environmental protection and electric mobility, while the demonstration area enabled visitors to experience new vehicles, solutions and technologies first-hand.
Showcased innovations, new mobility ecosystems and concepts for automated driving presented at the fair proved that digitalisation and connectivity will bring substantial change to the commercial vehicles sector. Digital technologies have a huge potential to further improve road safety with the use of smart sensors and cameras while platooning technologies proved that connectivity and automation can contribute to efficient transportation and even greater CO2 savings over long distances. CLEPA is fully involved in this potential via the ENSEMBLE – ENabling SafE Multi-Brand pLatooning for Europe – project, an initiative co-funded by the European Commission that started in June 2018 and will last three years.
Emission reduction played a key role, therefore advanced combustion engines, alternative powertrains and electromobility, both hybrids and pure electric drives, were equally showcased, answering to the different sector needs when it comes to longer distances or urban deliveries.
Suppliers and other industry representatives present in Hannover expressed concern over the planned CO2 emission regulation for heavy commercial vehicles proposed by the European Commission. While the commercial vehicle industry accepts and tackles the challenges of environmental protection with continuous innovation, many concerns were raised over the viability of the draft regulation. The proposed CO2 targets were marked as highly ambitious by the industry representatives, especially taking into account that heavy-duty trucks in Europe are already global leaders in fuel consumption. Automotive suppliers actively support realistically ambitious targets and are key contributors to vehicle innovation in pursuit of safe, sustainable and smart mobility, highlighting the need of preserving technology neutrality as a key principle of the upcoming regulation.