While brand new businesses like Tesla, Uber and Waymo receive a lot of attention for the ways they are pioneering auto-transport, it will be old companies with powerful innovation pipelines that feed the auto industry the parts and ideas it needs to continue advancing. Companies like 3M, which builds touchscreen displays, and DowDuPont which makes advanced polymers, will develop the basic technologies needed to make the car of tomorrow drive. Andrew Tangel reports at The Wall Street Journal:
Auto makers and popular ride-hailing apps aren’t the only companies looking to cash in on the shift to electric and self-driving vehicles. Old-line industrial companies outside Detroit and Silicon Valley are, too.
Manufacturing giant 3M Co., which makes Post-It notes and thousands of other products, and paint maker PPG Industries Inc. are among the manufacturers racing to figure out ways to get their adhesives, coatings and other products into the cars of the future. They are vying to supply components for the large batteries, sensors to avoid crashes and interior touch-screen panels expected to aid tomorrow’s drivers.
“It’s a long-term investment,” said Randy Stone, president of DowDuPont Inc.’s transportation and advanced polymers division, whose focus includes products for the automotive industry. “You’re not going to get a huge payback in the next 36 months.”
Research firm IHS Markit projects that the overall market for cockpit electronics; crash-avoidance and automation systems; and components for electric, hybrid and fuel-cell powered vehicles will nearly triple to $183 billion by 2022.
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