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There will be even more light
ZKW, a major player in the international automotive supply industry based in Wieselburg, still has a few innovations up its sleeve, as demonstrated by the numerous patent filings.
There will be even more light
Last year, the Wieselburg lighting systems specialist registered a total of 57 innovations for international patents - 50 of them in Europe and seven in China. In Lower Austria, the automotive supplier leads the 2020 patent ranking. Across Europe, ZKW is in fourth place among all Austrian companies that have submitted their inventions. The decisive factor is the numerous innovations in the area of intelligent lighting and sensor solutions that are required for autonomous driving. Research and development are of central importance at ZKW. New products are tested using the latest measuring technology in our own light channel, which is one of the largest in Europe. "Our patents are our values in the company. Innovation is essential for us to illuminate the paths of the future," explains Oliver Schubert, CEO of the ZKW Group.
The patents mostly concern technologies for autonomous vehicles and the sensors required for them. “One of these inventions, for example, ensures optimal visibility from camera sensors at night by specifically illuminating the vehicle surroundings with an intelligent headlight,” explain the developers Thomas Reiter, Christoph Bierwipfl and Stefan Weissensteiner, who registered the invention. In practice, contamination of the sensors is often problematic. Severe impairment of these “sensors” makes autonomous operation of the vehicle impossible. ZKW has therefore developed a number of solutions for cleaning the sensor area - for example using high-frequency vibrations or a targeted water jet - and applied for patents.