It is routine to see big financial deals in the high tech industry, but they’re not so often in the automotive industry. But now look: two giant deals in under a month: Qualcomm announced they would acquire NXP, and now Intel want to swallow Mobileye before the end of this year—both deals with giant amounts of money involved. This demonstrates to me that the automotive industry has a great future. ADAS and AVs will not only change the automotive world but also our entire environment, and lighting is included in the challenge.
Mobileye, I visited years ago—just after I left Valeo. I was convinced of their exceptional innovative potential. I took the opportunity to interview professor Shashua, the chairman of the board. At that time, it was a very small company with meagre facilities and fewer than 200 people. But professor Shushua’s thoughtful answers showed a great vision in ADAS and also additional possibilities for lighting.
Fast forward: last week I visited them again, and this time I discovered a six-storey building with high-tech facilities and great growth ambitions—and that was before the announcement of the Intel-Mobileye deal!
So what do I retain from these two visits in 10 years? The automotive industry has a great future, as does exterior lighting, provided technical innovations integrate the next level of connectivity, mobility, and autonomous driving to support future transportation solutions. Lighting must learn to “surf” on the digitalisation and AI wave in order to continue to be stronger and renew the customers experience.
That’s why we, DVN, launched our study to be published in May :“Impact of a changing Car Industry on Exterior Lighting: evolution or revolution? – Identify your success factors for the next decade”
Don’t forget, Shanghai DVN Workshop is coming up next month. By now you’ve received your flyer in English and Chinese; if you need a fresh copy, grab it from the website. See you there!
Sincerely yours
DVN President