The Automotive News PACE Awards honour innovative automotive suppliers. This year’s winners will be announced on Monday April 12 at Fisher Music Center in Detroit.
Four of the PACE finalists relate to lighting and driver assistance:
1) Robert Bosch Long-range radar
To build a better radar system, Bosch switched from the usual gallium arsenide and indium phosphide sensors to silicon-germanium technology. Add other innovations, and Bosch’s radar can sense up to 32 vehicles and stationary objects at once, over a wider field, and at half the cost of a previous system.
2) Delphi Automotive Electronically scanning radar
Delphi’s solid-state electronically scanning radar scans both a midrange and long-range coverage area. The radar can track up to 64 objects in the vehicle’s path, enabling safety features beyond active cruise control. The radar also is reduced in size so it can be mounted behind the bumper fascia. Lower cost and weight help this radar bring advanced safety to mass-market vehicles.
3) Federal-Mogul Corp. Bayonet connection system for profile wiper blade
This innovation offers a number of technical advantages for flat-blade windshield wipers: a double-lock design to keep the wiper from flying off, reduced height for aerodynamics and improved blade articulation. But perhaps the most important benefit: It’s less expensive and easy to install so drivers are less likely to delay replacing a worn wiper that compromises safety.
4) Valeo Lighting Systems BeamAtic premium adaptive driving beam
Valeo’s newest headlights achieve a glare free high beam by combining a camera, moving masks and advanced software to block out just that portion of the beam that would glare into other vehicles, while illuminating everything else. The driver rolls with permanent high beam, from which slices and spots are selectively darkened to prevent dangerous, painful glare.
