Automakers rank at the top of lists on industry investments in R&D, yet the process to achieve automotive innovation remains veiled. One reason is fierce marketplace competition. Company R&D is highly valuable intellectual property, so engineers may work under top-secret security because the first company to market with a technology can gain market share. Now, for the first time, we are taking you behind the scenes to see how innovation happens in the auto industry.

It can take 5-10 years or more to bring advanced technologies to market. That’s why automakers are already planning now for 2017.

• It all starts with an idea...followed by years of research, computer simulations, product development, laboratory testing, road testing, durability trials, consumer testing, certification and more.
• Today’s high-tech automobile is 3,000 parts all performing specialized functions in carefully specified ways. So before any auto technology goes on sale, it must pass through a series of advanced test facilities operated by thousands of auto engineers and scientists.
• An auto must function in the harshest climate conditions, from freezing cold to 100% humidity to desert temperatures...running on the roughest roads, from urban potholes to unpaved country roads.performing at highway speeds...for as much as a 150,000-mile lifetime...while meeting thousands of regulatory standards.

An automobile purchased today is the product of years of ongoing R&D and investments.

• Innovation requires lead-time. Bringing a new model to market typically requires 5-7 years in laboratories, proving grounds and production facilities, while a brand new technology takes longer.
• Innovation requires large investments. Developing a new power train typically costs $1 billion over 5-8 years. That’s one reason why manufacturers traditionally rank at the top of R&D funding lists for all industries, including computers and pharmaceuticals.

The automobile has very high quality control standards compared to other high tech industries.

• The useful life of consumer electronics is typically 3-5 years, compared to 15+ years for autos.
• Microprocessors in autos must withstand temperature swings from -40 degrees to 130 degrees--double the temperature specs for consumer electronics.

Meeting the test of time is a huge challenge. Your car performs multiple complex tasks in less than the blink of any eye, but researchers must spend years making a vehicle able to operate within seconds.

• When it comes to safety, speed is critical. Autos operate in "milliseconds," or thousands of seconds. Front airbags have about 30 milliseconds to sense an impact, analyze incoming data (from brakes or the steering wheel), decide whether to deploy the airbags - and at what level - and inflate in time to shield occupants. Side airbags deploy three times faster.
• Every few milliseconds, the engine control computer must decide how much fuel to inject into the engine and when to ignite the spark plug in order to optimize fuel economy and minimize emissions, and all this occurs while the driver is directing the vehicle to perform in different ways, such as accelerating onto a highway.

Crash testing helps make vehicles safer through months of different tests and analysis.

• A crash test may only take two-fifths of a second, but the computer sensors can generate a stream of 4,000 data sets...and engineers need many weeks to analyze all that information
• In an auto test facility, a new model of vehicle undergoes testing for about 30 different crash conditions, including side impact, front impact and more.
• As many as 25 crash test dummies may be used for testing just one model. Each high-tech dummy, which typically costs $100,000, is wired with sensors connected to a computer.

Testing in advanced weather facilities is needed to gauge performance under extreme conditions.

• Automakers have built high-tech test chambers so engineers can evaluate products in different environments, ranging from -40F degrees to 130F degrees.
• Researchers test vehicle performance in special facilities built to mimic monsoon rains and windstorms.
• A model may spend 200 hours in a wind tunnel as researchers and stylists work to lower wind resistance and improve mileage. Aerodynamic drag accounts for about 20% of the energy a vehicle needs just to move through normal air resistance.

Durability testing is important to ensure vehicles meet tough consumer use.

• Even the seats are tested for durability. Using robots, automakers research how people of all shapes and sizes affect the upholstery, seat cushions and seat structures over the life of the vehicle.
• High performance extends to car doors too. It takes 84,000 open-and-close cycles to simulate 10 years of customer use on a car door. This testing happens in a wide range of temperatures, just like real life.
• Automakers test and perfect their products at huge, company-owned proving grounds, which include roads designed to replicate real-world conditions...with potholes, bumps and all.

Despite the fastest computers and sophisticated test chambers, a model still needs to be tested in the real world.

• Many operations of a vehicle can be simulated by computer, but engineers need to understand how different systems in an auto interact, and often that can only be done through actual use.
• To test for durability, an automaker can easily rack up 2 million miles of on-road and track testing on a single model of vehicle. That equates to 80 trips around the world.
• It’s a global industry, and testing is worldwide too. A model may be driven in extreme conditions like the jungles of Brazil and the mountains of New Zealand. Research in the southern hemisphere for tests can extend the seasons for testing and help speed up development.

As one of the most regulated products in the marketplace, the automobile undergoes rigorous processes to become certified according to engineering and regulatory standards.

• Through the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), 14,000 mobility experts in 100+ countries have provided data resulting in more than 2,600 globally recognized standards for motor vehicle transport.
• An auto must meet more than 200 government safety and environmental regulations in the U.S. alone. Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which is the section addressing environment, is actually longer than the U.S. tax code.
• Substantial changes to the federal law on occupant crash protection (FMVSS 208) added 50 tests to the auto development cycle, including new crash tests, new test dummies and new airbag requirements. Results from any one of these tests can require vehicle changes, from simple recalibrations to significant re-design and re-testing.
• The road to market can be long. An auto must meet exacting specifications over a long series of tests. If a model doesn’t perform as expected on test #37, it may need to be re-engineered...and go back to test #1.

In a way, our assembly lines cover the entire country.

• Often, innovation is the result of collaboration among automakers, diverse suppliers from many industries, universities and federal labs.
• Automakers depend on more than 30,000 suppliers based in all 50 states. Changes to a model can impact many suppliers and their production processes.
• Lead-time is needed in production, too. Process quality control is a priority, because an automotive product needs to be built the same way every time, from all levels of the supply base through to the assembly facility.