CASE, ACES or SAEV: What will we call electric, shared self-driving cars?

There's a lot of uncertainty about what the car of the future will look like and when it will show up.

That might explain why those in the auto industry can't seem to agree on what acronym to use when describing a self-driving, electric shared vehicle.

Should it be CASE? That's what Danny Stillion, a partner and executive design director for design group IDEO used to describe a Connected Autonomous Shared Electric vehicle during a presentation at the seminars.

Or maybe ACES, which is the Center for Automotive Research's preferred term for an Automated, Connected, Electric and Shared vehicle.

"And it's also called SAEV: Shared, Autonomous Electric Vehicles. But that's more of a European acronym," said Jeffrey Stout executive director of research, technology and new mobility for North America with Yanfeng Global Automotive Interior Systems.

"We just had that conversation this morning," mused Nathan Bowen, general manager Americas for Yanfeng. "There's no right term for it. We use ACES. It's easiest to say."

Stout agreed.

"The reality is, the technology is new enough, it's nascent enough that people haven't decided yet," Stout said. "People are just throwing stuff out and something's going to catch on, and that's going to become 'the thing.' It's just that none of them have become 'the thing' yet."

Blame the name confusion on the new path taken by automakers, suppliers and even nontraditional auto players such as Waymo, run by Google parent Alphabet Inc.

While the auto industry expects electric, shared and autonomous vehicles to play an increasing role in the next five to 30 years — with electric and partially electric vehicles forecast to make up as much as 40 percent of global auto production by 2030, or up to 85 percent by 2050, depending on who's making the prediction — there is still much about those cars that is not defined.

For instance, should the "A" refer to cars with driver assist technologies? Or to solely hands-off autonomous vehicles, noted Kristin Dziczek, CAR's vice president for industry, labor and economics.

"It's all such an unknown," said Joe McCabe, CEO of AutoForecast Solutions.

McCabe is skeptical that all of the 88 electric vehicle manufacturers who say they will be in the market in 2025 will be turning out cars at that time.

"There are just too many hurdles to get through," he said, including persuading consumers — especially U.S. consumers — to buy them.

Whether the cars are called CASE or ACES or SAEV, suppliers are preparing to make parts for them.

It makes for an exciting industry, Bowen said.

Yanfeng, with 23 manufacturing sites and three technical centers in North America alone, needs to have a flexible manufacturing footprint that can handle a changing auto production landscape, he said. That means the company with a North American headquarters in Novi, Mich., uses sensors and data made available through Industry 4.0 programs, robots and collaborative robots and a trained work force jointly for new work that is on its doorstep.

"Those vehicles are being quoted, developed and designed now," Bowen said. "When we look at it from what we do as a supplier, we're working with the OEMs now, winning the business then designing, developing and partnering with them through launch."

Yanfeng is bidding on work now that will go into production as soon as 2021 and will require it to make interiors for a base-model car, an upscale model, an electric model and some version of an assisted drive or autonomous car.

"That's when, as a supplier that really creates the need for flexibility in the manufacturing process," Bowen said. "You can't have $20 million in capital sitting there on all of these, and then hope that the volume comes through. That's when you need the flexibility that's going to let you shift back and forth."