Smart Automotive HMI for Mobility Innovation

There are trends around mobility HMI innovation that are set to see its continued growth. The driving factors include improved driver safety and driver experience, product differentiation for competitive advantage, urban growth, plus developing logistical needs which impact demand for both passenger and commercial vehicles.

At In2tec we have 20+ years’ experience at the forefront of innovation in Flexible Electronics and developing Smart HMI interfaces and solutions. We have continually invested in our technology and capabilities to develop expertise in this field.

Our expertise is demonstrated in the design and development of ground-breaking instrument cluster panels and contoured seat switch packs, through to integrating solutions ranging from capacitive switch and haptic touch, smart illumination, heads-up-display, and hands-on/hands-off sensor technologies across HMI solutions.

These HMI solutions provide not only for increased driver safety, but for improved driver and passenger experience too. And as vehicles are set to become more autonomous, innovative HMI solutions are set to play a greater role in vehicles and for end users. Moreover, there is a positive shift for future mobility to provide sustainable solutions.

Here at In2tec, we have spent more than the last 15 years at the forefront of R&D in Sustainable Electronics and developed an additive conductive print and component placement process in conjunction with specialist adhesives and substrates innovating additive manufacturing techniques.

In2tec’s Sustainable Electronics Technology Solutions

With our drive for sustainable electronics, we are pushing for fundamental changes to achieve a circular vision for flexible electronics, compared to traditional ‘hard’ electronics. Flexible electronics offer inherently different properties in design, form, and materials from which they are manufactured, vast benefits that maybe were not considered until now. In turn, we present opportunities to allow circuit boards to be unzipped at the end of useful life to provide a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution.

Our patented ReUSE® technology allows for components to be populated at low temperatures, saving energy in manufacture, and easily removed from PCBs using little more than hot water. This unique ‘unzipping’ technique means even complex, and high value components can be extracted easily, cleanly, and unstressed from used PCBs and returned into the supply chain for a second-life, driving a circular economy of used parts, and allowing for PCBs to have up to 100% recyclability. With the use of highly recyclable substrates, such as aluminium or nano-cellulose, we can realise the first 100% recyclable printed circuit board assemblies, an absolute competitive advantage.

Here at In2tec we are all passionate about what we do, and we continue to work towards our primary goal – “We Protect the World for Future Generations by Inspiring Sustainable Electronics. We are committed to make sure we can meet our goal of ceasing landfill e-waste through 100% recycling of substrates, conductive circuits, and electronic components, via ultra-low energy unzipping and second-life usage for constituent parts.

Traditional printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA’s) generally achieve just 3-5 % recyclability, with harness and wiring looms at best 20% recycled. It takes significant energy (creating considerable CO2e), effort, and process time to extract the reusable properties and materials of these populated PCBs. This equates to a cost often too high to be of commercial value.

Why work with In2tec for your sustainable Smart HMI requirements?

Utilising our ReUSE® Highly Recyclable Electronic Circuit Boards means that a component’s usefulness does not have to end when the PCB it is mounted has reached its end of useful life. Components can be recycled or reused, no longer needing to go to landfill or be burned, and just as importantly, the valuable resources and precious metals do not need to be continually mined and depleted.

In creating a truly circular economy, with the generation of secondary markets in used components, we extend their life beyond discontinued OEM parts and reduce the demand for illegal-market component ‘copies’, in turn helping to keep your costs down.

Our capabilities – driven by our design philosophy that “nothing is impossible”

At our core, everything we do is underpinned by the belief that “nothing is impossible.” With our expertise we excel in bringing together disparate and often conflicting design requirements, to provide systems and solutions that offer greater efficiency and better ergonomic design, through the breaking down of design and barriers and solving the most-challenging problems.

Let us help you achieve your technology wish list

We invite you to put our capabilities, innovation, and experience to the test for the development of your next Smart HMI product. To find out how we can benefit you please get in touch:

E. Sales@in2tec.com

T + 44 (0)1536 419200 (office hours GMT: 8.30am-5.00pm Mon-Thurs; 8.30am-2.30pm Fri)

For more information about In2tec technologies and capabilities, please visit https://www.in2tec.com/about-us