With the total number of vehicles steadily increasing and soon approaching one billion, the world is facing serious challenges in terms of both safety of road transport and sustainability. Consequently the two major persistent issues for the automotive industry are improved safety and reduced emissions.

The integration of complex microsystems with enhanced intelligence has enabled an increase in efficiency of the previously 'dumb' internal combustion engine by an average 1% annually during the last 20 years. In the future, such smart systems may help to leverage novel powertrain concepts towards the zero emission vehicle. Particularly for electric cars, anticipatory power management and efficient driving assistance will be needed to overcome range limitations. Electrical in-wheel motors equipped with novel miniaturized functionalities will be required. Intelligent systems for tire monitoring and control deserve special attention as well, since insufficient tire pressure accounts for more than 3% of the efficiency losses in the car.

The conference book in hand is a showroom of activities, the International Forum on Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications (AMAA) has been known for during the last 12 years: advanced sensors including one based on the giant magneto resistance (GMR) effect, several camera and radar systems making road traffic safer by assisting the driver in recognizing pedestrians and obstacles, and human-machine interfaces based on the recognition of hand gestures - a striking example of how smart systems will further enhance the usability of vehicles and the comfort of driving.

Additional information is available on www.amaa.de

Inhalt
Market.- Advanced Safety Systems The Opportunity for Semiconductor Vendors.- Safety.- Dual Frequency Methods for Identifying Hidden Targets in Road Traffic.- Multi Spectral Pedestrian Detection and Localization.- Car Driver Monitoring by Networking Vital Data.- MDSI Range Camera Calibration.- Laserscanner Based Cooperative Pre-Data-Fusion.- Satellite-Based System for Predictive Control in Vehicles and its Field of Applications.- Results of the EC-Project INTERSAFE.- Powertrain.- Crank Angle Resolved Determination of Fuel-Concentration and Air/Fuel Ratio in a SI-Production Engine by Using a Modified Optical Spark Plug.- Two-Line LIF-Emission Thermometry for Gas-Temperature Determination in IC-Engines.- Comfort and HMI.- Human Vehicle Interaction Based On Electric Field Sensing.- Networked Vehicle.- Automotive 1 Gbit/s Link Goes Standard.- Components and Generic Sensor Technologies.- Imaging Millimeter Wave Radar with Phased Array Antenna.- Tungsten-Titanium as Advanced Material for RF-MEMS Switches.- Local Modification of Fired LTCC Substrates for High Frequency Applications.- Determination of Complex Permittivity of LRR Radome Materials Using a Scalar Quasi-Optical Measurement System.- Speed Sensors for Automotive Applications Based on Integrated GMR Technology.- Micro-Rotation Angle Sensor with Integrated Hall IC.- Scaled Test Bed for Automotive Experiments: Evaluation of Single Accelerometer Electronic Stability Control.- A New Micromechanical Pressure Sensor for Automotive Airbag Applications.- Trusting Your Senses.