As vehicles become more connected to internet and cloud services, an increasing array of sensors are being developed for every aspect of vehicle management

As vehicles become more connected to internet and cloud services, an increasing array of sensors is being developed for every aspect of vehicle management

Last week saw the announcement that Sensata Technologies has agreed to acquire the Schrader group of companies from Madison Dearborn Partners for USD1 billion. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2014. The news comes as Infineon Technologies and International Rectifier Corporation also sign an agreement under which Infineon will acquire International Rectifier.

The acquisition significantly strengthens Sensata’s presence in the rapidly growing tire sensors market. Sensata is a major provider of sensors for the global automotive industry with Sensata sensors used in vehicle’s engine, transmission, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), suspension and safety systems, amongst others. "The acquisition of Schrader extends Sensata's leadership position in pressure sensing and provides further access to a rapidly growing USD2 billion low pressure sensor market where the largest current opportunity is in tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS)" said Martha Sullivan, president and CEO of Sensata.  "Additionally, Schrader's expertise in MEMS sensing, wireless communications and ASIC design will be highly complementary," she added.   

Through the latest acquisition of Schrader, Sensata will become a major player in the global TPMS market, which is witnessing rapid growth, driven by growing regulations in areas of safety and further improvements in fuel economy. TPMS fitment has been mandatory on new vehicles in the United States since 2008 and in the European Union since November 2012.

The value of sensors – not only in tires, but across the vehicle – is set to dramatically increase over the next decade, as they go from providing local telematic data and become increasingly connected to the internet and the cloud based services. At the recent ECM conference in Barcelona, Dr. Matthias Klauda, Automotive Systems integration at Bosch, showed the potential of a purely automotive cloud for connected services in vehicles, providing data on engine running and infotainment services or fleet management vehicle diagnostics.

Other recent sensor developments include:

They have the potential in the future to extend well beyond the vehicle alone, such as greater efficiency of city traffic. But currently, on the vehicle side, there needs to be an electrical/electronic system able to handle the influx output of data, which is not available with the currently existing architectures. Recent announcements such as those above show that sensor suppliers are looking at the potential to monitor every aspect of the vehicle. Bosch is building these types of architectures and expect them to be ready around 2018-2019. With major tier one suppliers setting their sights on providing connected car services, the value of sensors that provide data on every aspect of the consumer and fleet driving experience is set to grow exponentially.

Contacts

Copyright © 2025 S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.

These materials, including any software, data, processing technology, index data, ratings, credit-related analysis, research, model, software or other application or output described herein, or any part thereof (collectively the “Property”) constitute the proprietary and confidential information of S&P Global Inc its affiliates (each and together “S&P Global”) and/or its third party provider licensors. S&P Global on behalf of itself and its third-party licensors reserves all rights in and to the Property. These materials have been prepared solely for information purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable.
Any copying, reproduction, reverse-engineering, modification, distribution, transmission or disclosure of the Property, in any form or by any means, is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of S&P Global. The Property shall not be used for any unauthorized or unlawful purposes. S&P Global’s opinions, statements, estimates, projections, quotes and credit-related and other analyses are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security, and there is no obligation on S&P Global to update the foregoing or any other element of the Property. S&P Global may provide index data. Direct investment in an index is not possible. Exposure to an asset class represented by an index is available through investable instruments based on that index. The Property and its composition and content are subject to change without notice.

THE PROPERTY IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS. NEITHER S&P GLOBAL NOR ANY THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS (TOGETHER, “S&P GLOBAL PARTIES”) MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, FREEDOM FROM BUGS, SOFTWARE ERRORS OR DEFECTS, THAT THE PROPERTY’S FUNCTIONING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THE PROPERTY WILL OPERATE IN ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION, NOR ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO ITS ACCURACY, AVAILABILITY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS, OR TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE PROPERTY. S&P GLOBAL PARTIES SHALL NOT IN ANY WAY BE LIABLE TO ANY RECIPIENT FOR ANY INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE. Without limiting the foregoing, S&P Global Parties shall have no liability whatsoever to any recipient, whether in contract, in tort (including negligence), under warranty, under statute or otherwise, in respect of any loss or damage suffered by any recipient as a result of or in connection with the Property, or any course of action determined, by it or any third party, whether or not based on or relating to the Property. In no event shall S&P Global be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees or losses (including without limitation lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of the Property even if advised of the possibility of such damages. The Property should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions.

The S&P Global logo is a registered trademark of S&P Global, and the trademarks of S&P Global used within this document or materials are protected by international laws. Any other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The inclusion of a link to an external website by S&P Global should not be understood to be an endorsement of that website or the website's owners (or their products/services). S&P Global is not responsible for either the content or output of external websites. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its divisions separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain divisions of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global divisions. S&P Global has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain nonpublic information received in connection with each analytical process. S&P Global may receive compensation for its ratings and certain analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of securities or from obligors. S&P Global reserves the right to disseminate its opinions and analyses. S&P Global Ratings’ public ratings and analyses are made available on its sites, www.spglobal.com/ratings (free of charge) and www.capitaliq.com (subscription), and may be distributed through other means, including via S&P Global publications and third party redistributors.