Autoliv Inc., a worldwide provider in automotive safety systems, said it will be strengthening its insights in automotive technology research as Tomiji Sugimoto joins the Autoliv research advisory board.

Sugimoto has held various key technical and leadership positions in Honda Motor Co., including vice president of the automotive technology research division at Honda R&D Americas and executive chief engineer at the Automotive R&D Center in Honda.

Autoliv has led the way in the development of active and passive safety technologies to the world’s car makers for more than 60 years. An important role is played by the research advisory board, where members exchange ideas, theories and insights from their respective fields on an ongoing basis. This results in academic progress as well as in new products and strategies for the automotive safety market.

The board consists of eight members with deep insights in technical development and research, ranging from biomechanics to autonomous driving.

Up to 90 percent of traffic fatalities are caused by human errors, and last year when Chris Urmson and Natasha Merat joined Autoliv’s research advisory board, the company clearly stated that autonomous driving is the next step to transform road safety.

“Every year, our products save over 30,000 lives and prevent 10 times as many ‘severe injuries,’” said Jan Carlson, chairman, president and CEO of Autoliv. “Our aim is to be the leading system supplier in automotive safety, delivering both the hardware and software needed to build the world’s safest cars.”