OREANDA-NEWS. It is that time again – the winners of the annual Innovation Awards of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) have been chosen. Three innovative products from the international technology company Continental were honored with CLEPA Innovation Awards at the ceremony in Brussels. The integrated brake system MK C1 was awarded 2nd place in the Safety category. Road Database, which supplies automatically collected, high-precision route data received 2nd place in the Connected category, while the Holistic Connectivity vehicle won an award for 3rd place in the Connected category as well.

The winners of the annual Innovation Awards of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) have been chosen. Three innovative products from international automotive supplier Continental were honored: the integrated brake system MK C1, Road Database and the Holistic Connectivity Vehicle.

MK C1 – faster braking, shorter braking distances

With the development of MK C1, Continental has designed an electronic brake system that is more dynamic, lightweight, and compact than conventional brake systems. With 50% greater braking power for advanced driver assistance systems including emergency brake assist, adaptive cruise control, and pedestrian protection systems, the system helps to avoid accidents thanks to short braking distances and to reduce the severity of any accidents that do occur.

The MK C1 is the perfect response to the requirements of modern vehicles. "With an outstanding power-to-size ratio, optimal economic efficiency, and the greatest possible level of comfort, the MK C1 perfectly satisfies future requirements for personal mobility," explained Felix Bietenbeck, Head of the Vehicle Dynamics business unit at Continental's Chassis & Safety division, adding: "I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of all our employees who helped to develop this product." 

Road Database – the sixth sense for vehicles

With Road Database, Continental presents an innovative solution for supplying advanced driver assistance systems with high-precision route data. The basic idea behind Road Database is to take information from sensors on various vehicles and use it to generate a machine-readable representation of the road in the backend. Depending on its intended purpose, the system is designed either to complement or act as an alternative to conventional digital street maps.

"Advanced driver assistance systems can drive more preemptively, comfortably and safely thanks to the data supplied by Continental's Road Database," explains J?rgen Schweiger, Head of the Intelligent Transportation Systems business unit at Continental. "The more vehicles and manufacturers use the system, the more accurate and up-to-date the information provided. Winning the CLEPA Award highlights in particular how important this issue is for intelligent mobility in the future."

Holistic Connectivity vehicle – the connected vehicle of the future

Vehicles are becoming part of the Internet, and in doing so, they are undergoing a transformation from a closed to an open system. This trend is impacting a whole host of different systems and technologies – from vehicle electronics and networked services to big data analysis. With the Holistic Connectivity vehicle, Continental shows how the connected vehicle of the future could look.

Context-based services, an intuitive human-machine interface, and an IP-based network architecture allow the Holistic Connectivity vehicle to provide an insight into technologies and services of a fully connected vehicle. "I am particularly pleased that such a far-reaching concept has been recognized by the jury because, to achieve a fully connected vehicle, all of the technology inside the vehicle and beyond will have to be rethought – from the human-machine interface to the cloud. At Continental, we call this Holistic Connectivity," says Alexander Klotz, Head of R&D at Continental's Interior division.