Dear Reader,

Perhaps you happen to have the collected issues of ATZelektronik 2014 in front of you at this moment: issues 1 to 6 and the special issue on Electronica, the world’s largest electronics trade fair, which recently took place. Our thanks go to all our authors who wrote very valuable articles with great commitment this year. Some of you have played a very special role in strengthening the profile of ATZelektronik — with an understanding of how to address some developments in the industry with a critical view and a certain distance. This was also the case this year in our interviews, thanks to our courageous and committed interview partners.

Together, we did not let ourselves be driven by hype. For example, we questioned electric mobility projects at an early stage and focused in a down-to-earth manner on doing our homework in questions of on-board power systems and powertrains. For the first time there are now well-founded calculations on when and how the cost of batteries might fall and that German companies will play a subordinate role in this.

There is new hype surrounding the connected car and the dream of autonomous driving. In this case, we express our doubts about the time schedules of the over-optimistic roadmap towards 2025, but without calling the developments themselves into question. We do this in our articles and additionally at the 1st International ATZ Conference on Driver Assistance Systems in April 2015 in Frankfurt/Main. A report in ATZelektronik 05 already summarised the decisive findings that were brought to a conclusion in 2014 with the aid of experts.

When it comes to the integration of consumer electronics in the car, the focus is increasingly on driver assistance systems. This carries risks, as was pointed out by the ZVEI and semiconductor manufacturers in a communication campaign in 2014. The subject was discussed this year in four interrelated articles in several issues of ATZelektronik. Two interviews help to objectify those things that the industries need to concentrate on — technically and organisationally, as well as in new forms of cooperation.

The profile of ATZelektronik is primarily the result of the detailed technical depth of its articles. But wherever it is appropriate, it also aims to examine the work of developers from a marketing and cost perspective in order to avoid misinterpretations and prevent disappointments. In this way, this brief look back also sets the perspective for our cooperation in 2015.

I look forward to a successful new year with you.

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