Knorr-Bremse and Continental are jointly pursuing the development path towards highly automated commercial vehicles. The partnership will initially focus on automated convoy driving (platooning).

Knorr-Bremse and Continental have entered into a partnership to develop a complete system solution for highly automated driving (HAD) in commercial vehicles.

The cooperation includes all functions for driver assistance and highly automated driving. The system consists of environment recognition, driving planning and decision-making, as well as the control of the actuator systems in the vehicle (such as steering and brakes) and human-machine interaction.

Frank Jourdan, head of the chassis and safety division at Continental, said at the moment the public was more aware of the use of automated driving in cars.

“However, we see great potential in making the intensively competitive freight transport sector significantly more efficient and, above all, safer. Continental and Knorr-Bremse are two specialist companies that are at the forefront of their respective market segments and which complement each other perfectly with their portfolios.

“Continental brings many years of experience in assisted and automated driving and an extensive product portfolio for driver assistance sensors and system architecture – for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In Knorr-Bremse, we have a partner with the expertise of a proven commercial vehicle specialist company which has in-depth knowledge of safety-critical systems.”

The cooperation between the two companies will initially involve automated convoy driving (platooning)). Later development work will deal with automated driving on the freeway (‘Highway Pilot‘).

“With this partnership, Knorr-Bremse and Continental are creating the first-ever total system for highly automated driving in the commercial vehicle sector,” said Dr Peter Laier, responsible for the commercial vehicle systems division at Knorr-Bremse AG. “The components of our jointly developed and pre-validated systems are very well matched to one another and considerably reduce the effort and complexity of integration on the part of the manufacturers. In the future, Knorr-Bremse will provide customers with these turnkey solutions for automated driving from a single source.”