SSL | HD: HELLA further expands market leading position in chip-based headlamp technologies

Date: Wednesday 14 December 2022

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HELLA, the automotive supplier operating under the FORVIA umbrella brand, continues to expand its market leading position in the field of digital, chip-based headlamp systems. Not only has the company started the world's first, series production of its "Solid State Lighting | High Definition" (SSL | HD) headlamp at its Lippstadt site, HELLA has also received the next high-volume series orders for this technology from another German, as well as an international premium car manufacturer. Following these successful orders for SSL | HD technology, it has already acquired customer projects with a total volume of around € 1.5 billion.

"The market launch of our SSL | HD headlamps is another milestone in automotive lighting technology, with which we are setting completely new standards in terms of performance, functionality and cost efficiency," says Yves Andres, Managing Director Lighting at HELLA. "In this respect, we now benefit from the fact that we relied on SSL | HD technology for high-resolution headlamps at an early stage and have consistently driven its development ever since. On this foundation, we have established a market leading position, which we are continuously expanding outwards, with further customer orders and the next generation of products."

The SSL | HD headlamp is an evolutionary development of established LED matrix systems and with this new headlamp technology, up to 25,000 pixels per LED can be switched intelligently and individually, depending on customer requirements. Thus, a multitude of new, high-resolution lighting functionalities can be realised. These include lane markings, symbol projections, as well as lane brightening and light carpets. Other safety-enhancing functions such as projections of safety distances or protection zones for cyclists or pedestrians are also conceivable.

In SSL | HD technology, together with partners, HELLA has further miniaturised the light source. Due to the significantly lower installation space requirements, it offers car manufacturers additional freedom in headlamp integration and vehicle design. At the same time, the software-based control of the light points allows the "world headlamp approach” to be realised, which HELLA has already successfully implemented. This means: All necessary adjustments to the headlamp, due to region-specific requirements such as right-hand and left-hand traffic, for example, can be mapped exclusively in purely digital form in an identically constructed light module. A variety of up to twelve technically different versions of the headlamp has therefore become obsolete. On the customer side, this can reduce development costs and capital expenditure by around 50 percent.

With the customer projects that have now been acquired, HELLA is expanding its existing customer base for this SSL | HD technology to include additional car manufacturers. In addition to the first start-up in Lippstadt, in the coming years it will also go into series production in other HELLA lighting plants in China, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. HELLA will thus bring the SSL | HD headlamp system onto the road in all regions worldwide by 2025.

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