Continental opens ITS facility in Silicon Valley

260 Continental is putting together an international team of innovators from the IT and automotive industries who will focus on intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to form a new business unit, called Continental Intelligent Transportation Systems. The business will be headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, USA and headed by Seval Oz, an expert in vehicle networking and automation.  She previously worked on Google's self-driving car project.

Continental sees the new business as an example of its strategy to make the car an integral part of the 'Internet of Everything'. Its key objectives include eliminating road accidents, minimising energy consumption, maximising comfort and usability of vehicles and enabling them to exchange information with each other in real-time.

Dr Elmar Degenhart, CEO of Continental said "Our new team will be combining some of the key strengths required to create this kind of pioneering innovation – these strengths include the know-how and inventiveness of Silicon Valley's leading experts in digital technology and the expertise of Continental in developing unique and reliable solutions for large-scale automotive production."

"ITS opens up many new business opportunities for Continental. Our new business unit will further enhance our competitiveness in this market," said Helmut Matschi, member of Continental's Executive Board and president of the Interior Division. "That's why we have chosen Silicon Valley as our new location. In addition to our existing competence, the Bay Area has the technology and talent for developing connected cars and ITS that we need to build solutions for more than just prototypes."

"I'm incredibly excited to lead Continental's ITS team in the direction of developing world-class engineering services. Our mission is to dramatically improve mobility and safety by forging strong partnerships in both the tech and automotive realm," Oz said.