HELLA and radar technology expert InnoSenT intensify strate-gic collaboration

Lippstadt, June 16, 2016. HELLA KGaA Hueck & Co., one of the world's leading au-tomotive suppliers for lighting and electronics, and technology firm InnoSenT, in which HELLA has a 50-percent holding, are intensifying their existing partnership. Through the new cooperation agreement, as a leading provider of radar technology, InnoSenT will exclusively sell all future products and services in its automotive portfolio to HELLA.

The agreed exclusivity in the joint development of radar systems for the automotive industry is a continuation of the working relationship between the two companies that started in 2010. "This underpins our market position and ensures we can continue to develop high-quality, efficient, and cost-effective radar systems," says Carsten Roch, head of the driver assistance systems product segment at HELLA. For InnoSenT, the exclusive collaboration is "a unique opportunity to move to mass production of intelligent and innovative radar solutions," adds Christian Frank, head of the automotive division at InnoSenT.

By stepping their partnership up a gear, HELLA and InnoSenT are paving the way for long-term growth in driver assistance systems that use InnoSenT radar technology. For example, from 2019 onwards when the HELLA 77 GHz radar sensors are launched, applications in the front/side area, such as advanced blind spot detection or the front cross traffic alert, will enter volume production, initially in the premium segment. Based on a modular concept and given the identical designs, many of the same components are used for the 24 GHz and 77 GHz radar sensors. This in turn, simplifies the inter-changeability of sensors in the vehicle. Thanks to this functional scalability, automobile manufacturers are able to flexibly adapt the driver assistance systems used to meet their own requirements and customer expectations. This modularization also permits the gradual roll-out in mid-priced vehicle categories of radar technology which has already established itself in the premium segment.