DVN visited ZKW in Wieselburg, in the scenic Mostviertel in lower Austria not far from Vienna. Udo Hornfeck has been ZKW’s CTO since last March, having come over from wiring harness supplier Leoni. Our visit was perfectly arranged by Udo’s assistant, of course under clear Covid rules, like mandatory full vaccination and mask wearing—except briefly for the photos you’ll see in this week’s In Depth article.
What was on display during our visit? I saw ZKW on the move, a lighting company transforming into a high-tech enterprise by using more and more synergies with their parent company LG Electronics, and by leveraging new partnerships. Israeli cybersecurity company Cybellum and US lidar company Lumotive are two of the newest ZKW partners. Lumotive showed an Audi Q8 ZKW headlamp with integrated lidar at CES. The expertise and competence brought by new partnerships like these will surely flow into innovative new solutions for ZKW’s customers. Hornfeck explained to us his philosophy that vehicle lighting has to be seen not like the bolt-on discrete components of the past, but more as a vehicle-level solution, a deeply integrated function of the car. We at DVN are convinced that our industry is inexorably headed toward software-defined lighting, and ZKW share this opinion, as it seems.
Another new approach in Wieselburg is the IVF (Intelligent Vehicle Front), which comprises car design elements like lit grilles, light bands, comfort lighting systems, and future exterior display applications.
DVN had the opportunity to experience some of the innovations ZKW are working on. The company’s pre-development director Gerald Böhm; innovation and product management director Hannes Scheer, and technology manager Florian Wagner showed in an engaged and excited way their results and new ideas with the chance to become future products. We left from our ZKW visit certain that such a creative and passionate team is good for some surprising and unexpected products!
