“Without having to turn the handle directly, the touchpad acts as a handle, so adjusting from side to side allows the vehicle to recognize and change direction.”
The driver in the driver’s seat pulled out of the steering wheel and the reporter in the passenger seat manipulated the touchpad, and the vehicle actually changed its lane. As long as the view is sufficient, the driver can drive in the back seat.
HL Mando, the main affiliate of HL Group’s auto parts, has held an “HL Track Day” at the HL Mando Research Institute in Miyun-gu, Beijing since the 14th to cover all of HL Mando’s new technologies and demonstrate them in real vehicles.
Some products are highly complete enough to be installed in vehicles right now, but related laws and regulations have not been established in many cases. HLMando installed and demonstrated its new technology in its vehicles, and it was possible to see HLMando’s various customers at a glance from its applications to various brands of cars including Korea, the U.S., and China.
Mando’s new technology is focused on securing safety first for various situations and is being developed by drawing pictures that will be applied to future cars, such as introducing self-driving technology. A car without a handle, a car with only one wheel, a car that can rotate around the front and rear wheels at the same time. As the future car that was only depicted in science fiction movies comes to reality, Mando’s technology is becoming a real situation, not a dream.
Mobile Wheel Control (MWC), which enables vehicle control with a mobile device such as a pad, is a device that can be used when there is a problem with the steering wheel of a car. Of course, such an emergency situation is to be dealt with just in case. Assuming that the interior of the car may be completely different from the current one based on autonomous driving in the future, the steering wheel can be operated anywhere other than the driver’s seat. In this case, it is possible to have a shape or circle in which the seats inside the vehicle face each other.
The development of MWC is now possible as the new technology has changed from mechanical devices to SbW (Steer by Wire), a steering system that transmits and receives information through electrical signals. The new technology has provided an opportunity to advance to another technology. SbW already received the Innovation Award in Vehicle Intelligence and Transportation at CES 2021, the world’s largest exhibition of information technology and home appliances, in 2021, and has been recognized for its technological prowess. Once applied, the new technology can provide more space inside the vehicle and reduce the weight of the vehicle. “Relevant laws have not been established for both Korea and China,” an HLMAND official said. “We are preparing to commercialize this device with our customers as early as the end of next year, expecting it to be legalized after the end of next year.”
Riding a vehicle equipped with the second generation of RWS (Rear Wheel Steering), which is capable of steering the rear wheels, changed the rotation space significantly. Unlike ordinary cars that adjust the front and rear wheels at the same time to increase stability when driving at high speed, this product reduced the rotation angle, making it easier to control the vehicle in a narrower space. U-turn was possible even when there was little space, and a woman in a test-drive vehicle even asked, “I had a hard time parking every time, but can’t I install this product separately?”
The SDC (Smart Damping Control) 70, an electronically controlled suspension, delivered intuitive feeling to the body when tested. Depending on the road surface, the vibration and impact received by the vehicle and the passenger vary, as SDC 70 dramatically reduces this. The system has comfortably suppressed situations where the head was swinging up and down to the point where it touched the roof of the vehicle when running on uneven floors. It is a device that prevents vehicles from being tilted back and forth even in sudden acceleration and sudden braking.
In addition to passenger cars, the company also introduced a large number of technologies that it is developing through joint ventures with HL Group affiliates and Chinese companies. The BN-EPS device mounted on a large trailer made steering wheels easy and convenient to handle and as if it were a passenger car. In the case of ADAS, which is applied to minivan vehicles, the company demonstrated that a person automatically changes lanes to avoid a person who suddenly jumps into the roadway and automatically brakes when the distance from the vehicle shown in the front narrows.
HL Mando is supplying parts to various Chinese electric car makers including global finished car brands through active customer diversification early on. Sales exceeded 2 trillion won last year, matching North America, but its operating profit margin is a profitable corporation that far exceeds that of North America.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
