Innovations on board

Lippstadt, September 14, 2016. HELLA is one of the world's leading automotive suppliers for lighting and electronics and applied for 172 patents in the 2015/2016 fiscal year alone. The company's mission is to maintain close contact with its customers through its innovations. With this in mind, the Technology Truck is setting off on a trip through Europe, packed full of innovations and prototypes. The development mule is already turning heads with its striking design. This way, HELLA will present its solutions for the future of mobility directly to customers in person.

A particular highlight on board the Technology Truck is the matrix headlamp, a world first developed by HELLA this year. The headlamp features 84 LEDs, and each light pixel can be activated individually. This ensures precise, variable light distribution, both throughout the entire high beam range and, for the first time, in the low beam range too. HELLA's Technology Truck does not just present the status quo - it also shows where the road may lead in future. The LEDs in the matrix headlamp can be switched on and off individually in order to maximize the illumination of the field of vision without dazzling other road users. This is done completely electronically without any mechanical actuators, and is the first step toward digitalization in the field of lighting. The technology is paving the way for other functions - for example, for animated solutions such as different light and color scenarios to welcome the driver.

HELLA is working on various electronics products to bring the idea of automated driving closer to reality. From the lane change assistant to blind spot monitoring and exit assist functions, HELLA radar systems are already making driving easier and safer. At the moment, the radar sensors in these applications primarily use the 24 GHz frequency band. HELLA has already produced ten million of these sensors. In mid-2018, HELLA will be launching the "CompactRadar" on the market. This is the smallest radar sensor in the product portfolio and will be barely larger than a matchbox. With their compact dimensions, the sensors can also be installed at the sides on the doors and at the rear of a vehicle. This enables the sensors to cover a high-resolution field of vision of 360 degrees around the vehicle - a key requirement for automated parking.

In the future, car drivers should be able to read and reply to emails safely while sitting in stop-and-go traffic on the motorway. This will require a further piece of technology from HELLA: optical image processing. With its subsidiary HELLA Aglaia, a software provider for camera systems, HELLA is one of the leading technology companies in this field as well. With the radar and image processing technology offered by HELLA, automated driving is one step closer to reality.