Yanfeng, the leading global automotive supplier, unveiled its XiM25 smart cabin concept targeting the next generation of consumers. Equipped with dozens of exciting and innovative technologies, XiM25 aims to redefine the cabin space for future mobility.

With the rise of Generation Z, their understanding of the automobile has changed from a transportation tool to a mobile private space. A personalized and intelligent travel experience that combines camping, resting, movie watching, gaming, and other highly interactive features has become their new expectation. In response to this insight, Yanfeng has introduced the new design theme "FLUID SPACE" to cater to the needs. By upgrading the user interaction connected with intelligence and injecting the design aesthetics blended with technology, it creates a comfortable traveling experience.

User Interaction Connected to Intelligence

Today's rapidly changing era has seen a shift in consumer expectations for vehicles. Customers seek a smart and highly interactive moving experience beyond just transportation.

On XiM25, through the Ultra-wide Panoramic 3D Heads-Up Display, Yanfeng creatively integrates ultra-high-definition suspended image technology with the interior optical surface, and the ultra-wide display spanning between the two A-pillars is back-projected to a more comfortable viewing position, further enhancing the immersive visual interaction experience of the virtual and real worlds.

The ClickRim™ steering wheel is a great representative of modular design. The innovative concept has led to the development of self-wrapping connectors that enable the automatic wrapping of the steering wheel. The steering wheel features a unique self-aligning housing and electrical connection system, along with pre-installed hands-off detection and heating modules, which significantly reduces the overall complexity of the steering wheel. The new autowrap process supports a wide range of wrapping material options, saving approximately two-thirds of traditional production time per steering wheel and greatly improving the efficiency of steering wheel assembly.

The exclusive WAVE air vent simulates natural wind, with its special blade structure and cost-effective motors. The airflow's speed changes in a soothing, wave-like pattern, making passengers feel a refreshing breeze inside the car. It can also integrate with the cockpit's functional lighting for a more intuitive interactive experience.

Additionally, XiM25 is paired with an ultra-wideband digital key with centimeter-level in-cabin positioning. The mobile device with a digital key can automatically unlock car doors when it comes within 3 meters of the vehicle. It can also accurately control the opening and closing of different car doors and activate the welcome function. Through cross-positioning tech, the cabin can achieve centimeter-level precise positioning, which can provide personalized services for multiple users and multiple scenarios.

Comfort for the body and mind

Safety and comfort have always been the focus of automobile consumers. In recent years, people have put forward higher requirements than ever for the comfort experience during the driving process, and they also have high expectations for multiple modes of seat adjustment in multiple scenarios.

SafeUnit™, the packaged seat-safety solutions, fully demonstrates Yanfeng’s unique integration advantages. The solution consists of several innovative components like Pre-Crash Seat Rapid Recovery, Seat Follower, Seat-Integrated Seat Belt, Seat Cushion Airbag, and Headset Airbag. These components are designed to protect occupants in various forward-facing positions, from the standard seated position to a wide-angle reclining position, in the event of a frontal, side-end, small-offset collision, and rollover accident.

Applied with the long sliding mechanism, the headliner display can perfectly align with the curved shape of various roof models. It has an extra-long sliding distance of 1520mm to cover the entire roof and comes with a variety of display sizes, including ultra-wide displays. The screen can rotate 58.5° front and rear, making it suitable for both front and rear passengers and various usage scenarios.

The Adaptive Zero Gravity Seat, which can be rotated sideways, is also technologically impressive. Thanks to the innovative seat movement mechanism and silent brushless motors, the seat rotates 90° sideways and slides over long distances. Making it suitable for new usage scenarios in L2-L3 autonomous driving modes.

Whether partially or fully reclined, paired with an adjusted floating leg rest, passengers can enjoy a home-like experience within the cabin. A suspension layer filled with ultra-soft PES silk between the seat surface and foam provides excellent breathability and wrapping performance, and the unique fluffy feeling makes people feel as if they are suspended in the air. When fully extended, the rear seat transforms into an oversized bed nearly 2 meters long, offering an unprecedented in-car resting experience.

Design Aesthetics with Technology

Today's consumers have unique aesthetic preferences for the exterior and interior design of cars, and they also want the cabin to integrate design aesthetics to present their unique tastes and personalities.

XiM25 is decorated with ultra-thin fritillary textured thin light guide film, providing an unparalleled sense of luxury and refinement. The ultra-thin 5mm light guide film achieves multi-layered high-resolution texture stacking, reducing the thickness by 80% compared to traditional light guide plates, and cutting the total volume of the lighting structure assembly by 50%.

The ecoSkin® Lux translucent skin has also been applied to many interior surfaces. The skin is made of recyclable thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) materials, applicable to most visible areas of the interior. It features a realistic texture and customizable multi-color schemes, providing a sophisticated look. By combining a mini-LED direct display with large-area decorative panels, this translucent surface, and flexible display technology can produce clear display effects and dynamic lighting on complex curves.

The floating ambient lighting of the whole cabin is also the highlight of XiM25. The LED light bead concealed lighting layout solution uses a self-developed lighting software for digital simulation in the early stage, perfectly reproducing the lighting characteristics in the designer's mind, presenting dynamic lighting and guiding, even lighting effects, and what you think is what you see.

The Heytech™ concealable touch panel, located at the center of the rear seats features a concealable user interface, addressing visual clutter and light pollution from the trend of multi-screen cockpits. Integrating curved plastic cover plates with touch feedback enables special shapes and customizable functions to match the styling and functional needs of various parts of the cabin, creating a seamless integration between the interior and electronic displays.

XiM25 not only continues Yanfeng's innovation strategy but also demonstrates its deep understanding of and respect for the lifestyles of the Gen Z group. “We believe that the ultimate goal of technology is to serve people and meet their needs，“said Ni Jiawen, CTO of Yanfeng, “As the structure of consumer groups changes, our innovations must also fit the needs of the new generation of consumers. XiM25's design concepts and technology applications are centered around this core. We look forward to working with users to explore more possibilities and jointly open a new era of smart mobility.”

Yanfeng is pursuing its commitment to preventing climate change and has achieved an "A–" CDP scoring (Carbon Disclosure Project) for the third consecutive time. The automotive supplier received the highest score for plastic product manufacturing in 2023. Yanfeng is the first Chinese automotive supplier to achieve this scoring for its interiors business globally. The company was also recognized for its sustainable supply chain management and recently received a Climate Change Environmental Leadership Award by CDP China.

Yanfeng achieved an A–, which is in the Leadership Band. This means that the company performed significantly better than competitors in the plastic product manufacturing peer group of companies and better than the regional Asian and global average for the group, who all achieved a C– scoring. 
In the past year, CDP assessed the environmental information for over 21,000 companies. To earn an A score, companies must show environmental leadership, disclosing action on climate and demonstrating best practice. They must provide evidence of their strategies and measures, such as the specification of scientifically based goals and the creation of a climate protection plan. This year is the third successive time that Yanfeng has achieved an "A–" for this scoring of the last six years. Yanfeng Interiors has disclosed its climate-related data to CDP since 2018.

The supply chain plays an important role in the transition to a sustainable economy
In addition to the scoring of sustainable company performance, Yanfeng also achieved an "A–" for its "Supplier Engagement Rating". This annual scoring by the CDP assesses the commitment of companies to climate protection activities in the supply chain. With this scoring, the automotive supplier is in the top 15% of companies who achieved a leading position among their peers. Yanfeng consistently reviews its purchasing processes and identifies and develops actions for the integration of environmental information in its global supply base. 

"Within our procurement organization, we have the potential to achieve important environmental changes in our supply chain. For this reason, not only do we concentrate on our own performance in this area, but also work closely with our suppliers in order to accelerate environmental actions across the company’s entire supply chain," said Gunnar Büchter, Vice President of Global Sustainability at Yanfeng.

Yanfeng, a leading global automotive supplier, and Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, today announced their collaboration in developing circular automotive interior materials. Both partners intend to design and deliver interior materials which meet the 2030 End-of-life-vehicle requirements and OEMs' ambitions with regard to the circular economy targets.

The partnership between Yanfeng and Trinseo aims to accelerate the market launch of circular materials for automotive interiors. It focuses on advanced mechanical recycling and dissolution process technology. Both partners intend to jointly develop, produce and commercialize circular materials for future automotive applications.

“By leveraging our extensive knowledge with Trinseo's technical expertise, we accelerate the development of circular automotive materials and offer our customers benefits along the entire value chain. Together we can provide recycled, high-quality solutions tailored to the automakers’ needs," said Gunnar Büchter, Vice President of Global Sustainability at Yanfeng. “This new partnership is a major step in our commitment to sustainability and part of the journey in realizing our company’s sustainability goals.”

“Trinseo and Yanfeng are a perfect fit. With Yanfeng we can expand and leverage our circular and low carbon solutions for all automotive customers and markets,” said Han Hendriks, Chief Technology Officer at Trinseo. 

A 3-day tech show was held at the experience center of the Yanfeng Beijing Plant, showcasing nearly 30 innovations in interior and exterior, seating, electronics and safety. Different from the past, this show brought a number of low-carbon products that expemplify our sustainability philosophy in product design and development.

The BASSI® Bamboo Element Door Panel

The design of BASSI® Bamboo Element Door Panel came from the soothing experience with nature, oriental Zen and caring for the earth. It is the first time that we boldly implanted bamboo elements into automotive interior design as much as we can. The door panel uses bamboo veneer for the insert panel and a variety of bamboo fiber composite materials in the upper door panel, armrest, map pocket, and door panel frame, which enhances the quality of the cabin while conveying the concept of sustainability and highlighting the aesthetics of the neo-Chinese style.

Bamboo veneer is used in place of traditional wood veneer or technological veneer for the insert panels, effectively reducing carbon emissions by 30%. The unique fiber texture of bamboo veneer, compared to wood veneer and technological wood texture, combines minimalism with a unique Chinese flavor. Bamboo is hard and resilient, with a short growth cycle. It is abundant in the southern region of China and can grow more than 30 meters in three months, which is ecologically friendly compared to trees with a slow growth cycle, and can be applied to a large area of the surface of various products for cabin interiors. With a deep understanding of the features of the material, combined with modern technology, by thinning the bamboo veneer, repeatedly removing the color, after several times of sanding and splicing, not only to retain the unique bones of the bamboo temperament but also for the bamboo, a traditional Chinese material to give more possibilities for modern design.

In addition, a variety of bamboo fiber composite materials are also used in the upper door panels, armrests, map pockets and door panel frame. By adding bamboo fiber to different materials in different ratios such as 5%-50% and mixing them, it can reduce weight by up to 17% and carbon emissions by 30%. It enhances the texture of the product while naturally achieving anti-bacteria and reducing VOCs.

The Reco™ Low Carbon Seat

The Reco™ Low Carbon Seat is another important milestone in Yanfeng's sustainability strategy. Utilizing innovative and recycled materials, from foam to the steel frame, the Reco Seat’s reduces product carbon emissions by up to 40% compared to conventional seating.

A focus area of Yanfeng's sustainability strategy is the use of innovative, sustainable materials. The Reco Seat features several materials, including Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyurethan (PU) trim, recycled foam, thermoplastic foam, a green steel frame, a PET lightweight back panel, and hybrid cushion.

The PET PU trim is made from 100% recycled soft drink bottles, reducing product carbon emissions by more than 20%, and is translucent and soft to the touch. The foam used in the Reco Seat is combined with recycled and thermoplastic foam to provide improved resilience and support. Furthermore, the use of industrial wastewater steam in the foam production and molding process significantly reduces energy consumption and carbon footprint.

The seat pan is made from high-strength recycled plastic instead of a traditional metal seat pan, while the recycled steel frame, using 100% scrap steel as the raw material, together with green electricity for the production, reduces the product carbon footprint by over 60%. The seat back panel uses recycled PET to achieve a lightweight and dynamic styling. In addition, the hybrid cushion uses high strength-recycled composites instead of metal which reduces the carbon emission by 20% and allows for a wider choice of surface treatment techniques.

The ClickRim Modular Steering Wheel

The ClickRim steering wheel creatively utilizes a modular concept by designing the steering wheel with segmented housings, which allows for segmented replacement of the housings made of different materials. Whether it's fabric, leather, synthetic leather, or any other wrapped or injection-molded material, these surface materials of the steering wheel can be individually replaced by segments. The pre-installed hands-off detection and heating module and the automated wrapping process provide efficiency to the production.  

All components of the ClickRim steering wheel are also made of recyclable materials. Thanks to the modular design, components can be easily disassembled and returned to the material cycle. The metal armature, the spacer fabrics as well as the surface material can all be recycled. The reduction of conventional foam in the wrapping process enables us to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1 kg per steering wheel.

While traditional steering wheel wraps utilize a complex handcrafted process that takes an average of about 60 minutes to produce a single steering wheel, ClickRim's innovative design saves about two-thirds of the production time per steering wheel, dramatically improving the efficiency of steering wheel assembly and in turn reducing the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process.

ecoSkin® Innovative Interior Surface Technology

Yanfeng has been actively exploring the development and application of sustainable surface materials in recent years. ecoSkin, as a representative, has unique environmental benefits that can effectively reduce the VOC in the car and create a green and eco-friendly cabin experience.

Made  from a recyclable thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), ecoSkin can be applied to most of the visible surfaces of interiors in the cabin. With a lifelike texture in the surface, it has a delicate feel and is easy to clean due to its high stain-resistance. Compared with traditional wraps, the innovative material has more freedom of molding as there is no restriction on the R-angle. Not only does it offer customizable color combinations, but it also allows for light transmission as needed, while the integrated multi-texture process greatly shortens the manufacturing process and reduces the carbon footprint in manufacturing. As the production is solvent-free, VOC emissions can be greatly reduced, making it an extremely environmentally friendly product.

The latest wireless charging module uses ecoSkin surface technology as a whole,  demonstratingn how the same material can be applied in different ways on a single product, such as the combination of different color schemes and light-transmitting, etc.

Through a one-piece injection molding process, the overall weight reduction is as high as 37.5%, which is another innovative achievement of ecoSkin to realize both high quality and low-carbon footprint.

In addition to the above products, the technical event also showcased a series of industry-leading products, including the CYMATICX Sound Flow Cabin that brings immersive audio experience, the Hover™ SPA Seat that is the industry's first zero gravity seat to use a four-way electric independent adjustment of the upper backrest, the WAVE Electric Air Vent Module that realizes a variety of innovative wind modes, such as "natural wind," "ultra-large sweeping wind," and "feather wind," as well as an Ultra-low Latency E-Mirror. The event attracted a great number of customers and media, established a great opportunity for in-depth exchanges and received very positive feedback.

For the company's long-term development needs, Mr. Zang Chungao has succeeded Mr. Lu Kai as the General Manager of Yanfeng International and will fully lead the operations of Yanfeng’s various businesses.

Since joining Yanfeng in 2001, Mr. Zang Chungao has served in key management positions in the seating segment such as program management, quality, operation, procurement, and other key areas. He has accumulated profound business operations experience and overall management abilities, especially in strategy deployment, operations optimization and business management with keen market insight and strong strategic decision-making capabilities. He has successfully accelerated the seating business to build up comprehensive capabilities and our strategic layout globally, and realized the rapid expansion and steady growth of the business scale. In 2022, Mr. Zang Chungao was promoted to Deputy General Manager of Yanfeng, and led a series of important tasks such as the construction of the global supply chain system, promotion of product and technology innovation, and in-depth optimization of the program management system, which laid a solid foundation for Yanfeng's sustainable growth.

Mr. Zang, with his broad global vision and keen industry perspective, will lead Yanfeng in spite of market challenges and actively promote innovation, improve operational efficiency and strive to provide more value to our customers.

Automotive supplier Yanfeng has developed a new sustainable seat – the Reco Seat. From the materials used to the reduced product carbon footprint, this seat from Yanfeng promises to redefine eco-friendly cabin solutions and marks a major step in the company’s sustainability strategy. Utilizing innovative and recycled materials, from foam to the steel frame, the Reco Seat reduces product carbon emissions by up to 40% compared to conventional seating.

A major milestone in Yanfeng’s sustainability strategy

Reco, which stands for Recycle + Eco, represents significant progress towards the company’s climate goals. These goals include the use of recycled raw materials and lightweight components to significantly reduce corporate carbon emissions and the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF).

“We are committed to providing innovative and sustainable cabin solutions and the development of the new Reco Seat is an important milestone in our sustainability strategy and our contribution to the limitation of global warming to 1.5°C in line with the targets of the Paris Agreement,” said Uwe Borchers, Vice President, General Manager Yanfeng Seating, Europe & South Africa.

Innovative, eco-friendly materials

A focus area of Yanfeng's sustainability strategy is the use of innovative, sustainable materials. The Reco Seat features several materials, including Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyurethan (PU) trim, recycled foam, thermoplastic foam, a green steel frame, a PET lightweight back panel, and hybrid cushion.

The PET PU seat cover is made from 100% recycled soft drink bottles, reducing product carbon emissions by more than 20%. The foam used in the Reco Seat for the seat and backrest is also environmentally friendly.

Recycled and thermoplastic foam are combined to provide improved seating comfort and support compared to conventional polyurethane foam.

Furthermore, the use of industrial wastewater steam in the foam production and molding process significantly reduces energy consumption and emissions.

Significant reduction of product carbon emissions thanks to recycled steel and green energy

Through Yanfeng’s cooperation with a steel company, the Reco Seat offers a significant reduction of the product carbon emissions. The use of up to 100% scrap steel as the raw material, together with green electricity for the production of the recycled steel frame, reduces the product carbon footprint by over 60%. The seat pan is made from high-strength recycled plastic instead of a traditional metal seat pan, achieving Yanfeng’s goal of replacing steel with plastic.

The seat back panel uses recycled PET to achieve a lightweight and dynamic styling that is also sustainable. In addition, the hybrid cushion uses high strength-recycled composites instead of metal which reduces the PCF by 20% and allows for a wider choice of surface treatment techniques.

“The Reco Seat is currently in the development stage and for us it is a great product example to demonstrate our competencies and start discussions with our customers about sustainability and circularity. Together with our seating engineering and innovation teams we are developing sustainable solutions for the next vehicle generation,” added Borchers.

At CES, Yanfeng, a leading global automotive supplier, introduced a new generation of its Hover Seat, with Seat Sensing Posture ID technology that adds new levels of comfort.

The seat based on zero gravity research, by detecting the occupant’s body language, such as seating position, level of fatigue, and body type actively releases fatigue for passengers throughout the ride and to improve the driving experience.

Adaptive Welcome Mode for Different Body Types
When a passenger gets into the car, the pressure pad sensors accurately recognize information about the body type and automatically adjust the headrest, lumbar support and side wings to make the seat closely fit to the body.

Seating Position Recognition and Fitting
The sensor determines the seating posture of the occupant based on the pressure distribution to the seat.  Equipped with a matrix of multi-faceted support blocks, the seat automatically adjusts the blocks to give comfortable support to the body where needed.

Fatigue Detection and Automatic Massage
The seat detects the occupant changing their posture over time, then determines the degree and location of fatigue, and automatically triggers the partition massage function.

In addition, when driving or riding for an extended period and needing to stop and rest, the seat features weightless relaxation in Zero Gravity mode, which allows passengers to recline the seat up to 126° (angle torso to thighs) at the touch of a button. The backrest can be fully reclined, creating a feeling of weightlessness that allows passengers to unwind.  

“Yanfeng has taken the Hover Seat to new levels of comfort with the Seat Sensing Posture ID technology,” said Patrick Nebout, CTO of Yanfeng Technology. “The seat will actively provide tailored comfort adjustments for users with different body types and sitting postures and will actively alleviate passenger fatigue and enhance the travel experience.”

The next generation of the Hover Seat can also integrate features from the first generation. This includes optional functions including seat heating and ventilation, or an electric four-way adjustable headrest, integrated sound system, and others. 

As with the original version, the functionality of the seat can be tailored to automaker needs, such as the choice of rotation, horizontal movement, manual or electric long rails.

Yanfeng is setting new standards in design and production with the modular steering wheel concept ClickRim, which is making its debut at the 2024 CES. Whether fabric, leather, artificial leather, or any other wrapped or molded materials – these surface materials of the steering wheel can be individually tailored to meet specific requirements thanks to the changeable segments. This steering wheel is more than just a design feature however, as all components used are also recyclable.

The production of a steering wheel is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. It takes approximately 60 minutes on average to manufacture one steering wheel. The wrapping process accounts for most of this production time because traditional steering wheels are wrapped using a complex, manual process. This involves applying a foam coating to the metal skeleton of the steering wheel, followed by bonding a heating mat and finally the wrapping of the surface material. Each and every step, no matter how small, requires precise manual processing.

From manual production to a fully automated process

The ClickRim modular steering wheel concept involves the development of individual segments or half shells that are clipped onto the steering wheel rim and connected to each other. Anything is possible – whether there are two, three or four shells, alternating between wood and leather, fabric or natural fibers. The highlight: all the lighting and hands-off detection functions, as well as the heating mat, are pre-assembled and integrated directly into the shells.

Yanfeng has made this possible through a new manufacturing process that combines two production steps. The company has developed a process in which the shells are wrapped fully automatically with spacer fabrics and leather. The injection-molded part is already wrapped with the spacer fabric and fitted with the heating mat. The automaker's logo or the vehicle model branding can also be integrated directly into the shell during the wrapping process. The decorative or connecting seams on the steering wheel cover are no longer required – but could be added if required.

The overall complexity of the steering wheel product scope is also significantly reduced.

“Our new automated wrapping process allows us to save around two-thirds of the conventional production time for each steering wheel while maintaining efficient costs,” said Patrick Nebout, Chief Technology Officer at Yanfeng Technology.

The company's innovation team worked cross-functionally across Germany, North America and China on the development of the concept for this new, modular steering wheel.

“Through the cross-business unit collaboration between our interior, electronics and passive safety product departments, we are able to rethink and reorganize processes,” added Nebout.

ClickRim is part of Yanfeng's Circular Steering Wheel

Recycling and maintenance of steering wheels has previously been somewhat complex. Thanks to the modular design of the new steering wheel, the individual components can be disassembled easily and returned to the material cycle. The metal armature, the spacer fabrics as well as the surface materials used can all be recycled.

“With each new development, we are faced with the challenge of taking a holistic view of a product's life cycle – from the product design to the manufacture and use of the product at the end of its life, right through to the return of individual materials into the cycle,” Nebout said.

The use of spacer fabrics instead of conventional foam in the wrapping process for steering wheels will enable Yanfeng to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.0 kg per steering wheel.

The new steering wheel has passed all standard prototype tests, including head impact and body block tests. ClickRim is aimed at the premium and mid-range segment. This close-to-series concept development is ready to be used in the next generation of vehicles in model year 2025.

At this year’s CES, Yanfeng unveiled its CYMATICX sound flow cabin, expanding from physical product offerings to immersive audio experiences for vehicle interior spaces.  Based on the new self-developed OURANOS Sound Domain Controller platform, CYMATICX integrates a variety of innovative acoustic technologies such as HOLOSOUND immersive audio, somatosensory augmented sound, SONIX acoustic follower algorithms, and special flexible thin film transducers.

Over the past few years, there has been a boom in smart cabin technology, especially in cabin audio. Since 2019, Yanfeng has been exploring the field of cabin audio and successfully incubated the cabin audio product line from scratch.

"Cabin audio is a core product for Yanfeng's smart cabin strategy,” said Ni Jiawen, Chief Technology Officer of Yanfeng and General Manager of Yanfeng’s Tech Center. “We have been committed to creating a breakthrough cabin audio experience for many years. This time with CYMATICX, we have integrated the latest innovations together with our partners, opening up a new perspective on sound design and cabin audio management, and realizing the true reproduction of sound through a series of audio technologies and algorithms.”

The development of CYMATICX takes into account all aspects of sound generation, transmission, reception and perception, integrating acoustics, physics, psychology and other disciplines. CYMATICX features the groundbreaking SONIX dynamic sound algorithm, which adjusts the sound output in real time according to the position and dynamics of the sound object. By generating clearer and more accurate object audio and reconstructing the sound field energy, it provides passengers with a more realistic, immersive, and differentiable multi-point experience. It can also quickly determine the direction of warning sources while driving and supporting safe driving.

CYMATICX incorporates HOLOSOUND, one of only two immersive audio technologies that meets Hollywood standards, integrating a three-dimensional layout, point source, and spatial continuity of multi-channel immersive audio reproduction, it provides users with a comprehensive and authentic 3D audio experience. It is also equipped with sensory enhancement technology, which is an innovation of sound transmission that allows users to perceive sound not only through their ears but also through their bodies by interacting with other interior surfaces and seats, therefore getting a more immersive cabin experience.

The development of CYMATICX has received strong technical support from partners and industry leading audio companies ADI and OpenAudio, with whom Yanfeng announced strategic partnerships with recently.

The powertrains of electric vehicles have undergone a complete transformation - but the interior has not changed substantially. Interiors of EV's have largely resembled their gas-powered counterparts, until now.

At the 2024 CES, Yanfeng debuted its EVI (Electric Vehicle Interior) concept. This is a vision for future vehicle architecture, that eliminates the traditional instrument panel, and incorporates all key features and interior functions into a Smart Cabin seat, including an active headrest with integrated audio, safety systems, smart surfaces, and storage and charging integrated into the seat.

Through the development of EVI and the Smart Cabin Seat, Yanfeng's experts challenged themselves to simplify the vehicle interior while keeping the functionality that users expect. The Yanfeng solution builds them back in a unique way, in an all new module that incorporates both front seats, integrated floor console, steer-by-wire input system, HMI, displays, seatbelts and airbags, in addition to a HVAC microclimate system for thermal comfort.

Research shows three areas of EV owner interest:

Over the years, Yanfeng has conducted multiple studies on electric vehicle interiors. Yanfeng’s research has consistently shown three areas where EV owners (and those interested in EVs) want more. First, end users interested in EVs want access to more technology. They expect an electric vehicle to have more and different/unique technology than an ICE vehicle. Additionally, end users interested in EVs expect smooth and seamless experiences with technology. It needs to work as well, or better, than what they have today and should be used to provide feedback and information to the user that builds trust in the electric vehicle, especially important to first time EV users. Finally, many end users are open to, and looking for EVs to provide a fun and enjoyable experience, something different than in an ICE - technology is something that can help deliver this. Yanfeng’s User Experience Research team also cnducted research with end users using an early concept of the EVI demonstrator, bringing in research participants and allowing them to experience the reimagined vehicle interior firsthand. Findings from this research showed end users appreciated the dramatically different layout and interior spaciousness of the EVI concept.

Simplified assembly process:

Not only does EVI offer a new interior space for occupants, it also has the potential to simplify the vehicle assembly process for automotive manufacturers. With all key cockpit components integrated into the Smart Cabin Seat, installation into the vehicle is easier, faster, and less costly than conventional assembly. This is enabled by Yanfeng's cross-business capabilities, combining knowledge and experience across all its product categories: electronics, safety systems, seating, and interiors.

Sustainability Solutions:

With key vehicle control and interface elements integrated into the Smart Cabin Seat, the need for a traditional Instrument Panel is eliminated. This enables reduced overall vehicle weight and CO2 emissions, as well as increased efficiency, and promotes extended EV range. The ease of installation of the Smart Cabin Seat bodes well for an End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) strategy as well, making it just as easy for disassembly to boost vehicle circularity efforts. Furthermore, the EVI exemplifies Yanfeng’s commitment to sustainability through careful consideration of chosen materials and manufacturing processes. This includes the use of sustainable, high performing cover stock materials that are combined with Yanfeng’s CHyM substrate panels which use renewable fibers to create a lightweight and circular solution.