Marelli opens new R&D centre in Turin for lighting & body electronics + ADAS sensors
14 February 2020
Official opening of Marelli's R&D center in Turin with (L) Heinrich-Gerhard Schuering, CEO of Marelli’s Electronics Business Unit & (R) Sylvain Dubois, CEO of Marelli’s Automotive Lighting Business Unit
Marelli has opened a new site in Turin, Italy to host a research & development (R&D) centre for Marelli Automotive Lighting, dedicated to lighting & body electronics (LBE), as well as development of sensors aimed at advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Combining different capabilities in one location, the hub will be central to supporting Marelli Automotive Lighting activities across lighting and body electronics, long-lasting core competences of the company. In addition, the focus on ADAS recognises the importance of this as a growth driver for Marelli in view of the evolution of mobility.
Covering over 3,000 square meters on 5 floors, the hub is located near the existing Marelli plant in Turin and houses more than 130 employees, including about 90 engineers. The layout is designed to promote collaboration and communication and facilitate synergies between different competences of Marelli professionals in electronics, lighting and software development.
The hub will be a critical competence centre in the field of body Electronics, where Marelli has over 20 years’ experience developing body computer modules (BCM), gateways and onboard applications, such as door modules and trunk modules.
Another area of Marelli Automotive Lighting activity in the R&D hub will be devoted to the development of electronic control units (ECUs) for the management and control of in-vehicle lighting systems, that have become increasingly relevant in recent years, following the evolution of lighting technologies.
The hub will also host an area fully dedicated to ADAS, focusing in particular on the development of sensors and cameras. The activities in this field will take advantage of Marelli’s capabilities in several fundamental areas of expertise, such as software engineering, functional safety and cybersecurity applications.
These will be also complemented by competencies and technologies derived from the recent agreement with XenomatiX to offer modular LiDAR system solutions based on “solid state” technology, and from the previous acquisition of Smart Me Up, a French start-up specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) perception technology. This step marks a further advancement in strengthening the role of Marelli as a key player in the area of ADAS technologies, positioning the company as a competent partner that can effectively support its customers for their projects in the ADAS field.
The activities of the centre will be also enabled by the presence of four laboratories, including a software validation laboratory equipped with five 'hardware in the loop' (HiL) systems, able to emulate the use of software in a vehicle, meeting the validation specifications of different customers. Another laboratory is available for preliminary testing on software and hardware through simulators. The centre includes also a testing laboratory with benches for software developed for end-of-line testing machines in customers’ production plants, and for software developed for in circuit tests. Another significant feature of the new facility is the laboratory featuring a darkroom for optical tests on LiDARs and cameras.
The R&D centre has also obtained an A-SPICE 'Level 2' certification, the international standard designed to assess software quality.
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