Hella promotes intelligent mobility infrastructure in Beijing

Hella, the lighting and electronics specialist is participating in a consortium initiated by the Chinese automobile manufacturer BAIC to develop an intelligent mobility infrastructure in Beijing. This includes communication between vehicles and their environment, via traffic lights equipped with sensor technologies, for example. A total of thirteen international and Chinese technology companies are involved in the non-exclusive cooperation.

“We have a very close and successful partnership with BAIC. We are therefore delighted to be working together with BAIC and other industrial partners on intelligent, comprehensive concepts for highly automated driving functions in Beijing,” said Hella CEO Dr. Rolf Breidenbach.

Cai Suping, Vice President BAIC Group, explained: “Innovation and cooperation are key principles of BAIC. With a reliable, highly respected partner such as Hella at our side, we have good prerequisites within the consortium to further advance the development of an intelligent, connected mobility infrastructure in Beijing”.

“The development project is a good opportunity for us to work together on innovative solutions for connected, automated driving. In this context, we will first and foremost contribute our expertise in the areas of radar sensors and front camera software and further intensify our cooperation with BAIC,” said Frank Petznick, who heads Hella ‘s electronics business in China.

Andreas Rummert, responsible for the lighting business activities of Hella in China, added: “The fact that we are one of the international partners of this development project is not least an expression of our high technological expertise and the excellent long-term cooperation with BAIC. We started this with a joint venture in the lighting division and are now supplementing it with a new, ambitious development project”.

Hella and BHAP, a company belonging to the BAIC Group, have been operating a joint venture for lighting systems since 2014. In addition, the establishment of a joint venture for electronics components was announced in April of this year. It is to be formally established soon. Series production is expected to start in 2020.