Latest from James B. Treece

Automakers depend heavily on suppliers for the innovations that help sell vehicles. So how does a major technology supplier keep up the effort in the face of its own economic challenges and internal stress?

A123 Systems' UltraPhosphate battery won an Automotive News PACE Award in 2018 for increasing energy density while eliminating the use of cobalt, a metal subject to wild price swings.

Nvidia won a PACE Award in 2017 for putting an artificial-intelligence supercomputer in a car, enabling automakers to move steadily toward autonomous vehicles.

Federal-Mogul enabled engines to become smaller, more powerful, more efficient and cleaner with a series of eight PACE Award-winning piston breakthroughs.

BorgWarner's Eco-Launch solenoid valve, a 2014 Automotive News PACE Award winner, eliminated the annoying hesitation that had plagued restarts in earlier stop-start systems.

Delphi's Forewarn won an PACE Award in 2000 for allowing drivers to rely on the adaptive cruise control system to maintain a preset distance from the vehicle ahead.

Lear's solid-state smart junction box, a 2012 PACE Award winner, consolidated fuses, relays and more into a single assembly that was smaller and lighter.

Valeo's Park 4U won a PACE Award in 2008 for aiding drivers in parallel parking by turning the wheels while the driver controlled the throttle and brake.

Gentex's Full Display Mirror, which streams video of a vehicle's rear view to a mirror-integrated LCD display, won an Automotive News PACE Award in 2016, the company's seventh.

Dura Automotive won a PACE Award in 2010 for a sliding rear window for pickups that incorporated a defrost capability.