HELLA receives Gasgoo Award for its Large Multi-functional Front Phygital Shields

Shanghai, 20 October 2023. HELLA, the automotive supplier operating under the umbrella brand FORVIA, has received the China Automotive New Supply Chain Top 100 Award by Gasgoo for its large multi-functional Front Phygital Shields (FPS). The award is selected by a panel of judges based on five criteria: technological advancement, technical feasibility, economic viability, market recognition, and user experience. A total of 100 outstanding companies and technologies were selected in this year's competition, and HELLA's large multi-functional Front Phygital Shields stood out among them and successfully won this award.

"We are pleased to receive this award and industry recognition. This award not only highlights HELLA's leadership role in the field of automotive lighting, but also further confirms the industrial influence in the transformation of future mobility”, says Chai Yuanyuan, Director of HELLA Business Group Lighting Product Center Car Body Lighting in Asia-Pacific region. “Our Front Phygital Shields are perfectly in line with the mainstream market trends such as electrification and autonomous driving. They not only offer new design freedom to showcase the vehicle front as a styling element and strengthen brand differentiation, but also represents a key technology in autonomous driving."

Front Phygital Shields represent a highly integrated vehicle front module with animated RGB lighting, illuminated Radom, sensorics, and electronics. FPS integrate lighting functions specific for electric vehicles by utilizing the space between the front headlamps that traditionally housed a grille on internal combustion engine vehicles. Front Phygital Shields incorporate multiple LED segments for dynamic surface illumination and provides digital uses cases for individual animations. New functionalities and branding elements can also be included to help automakers differentiate and give their brands signature designs. At the same time, the Front Phygital Shields ensure the implementation of automated driving functions, such as automatic distance control (ACC). For this purpose, the Front Phygital Shields act as a radar-transparent cover for the radar sensors integrated in the front of the vehicle to protect them from the effects of weather and dirt. The heating function, which is also integrated, makes the radar sensors an environment perception technology that is independent of the weather. In addition, it contains a new foil-manufacturing process and a dynamic polyurethane surface that is self-healing under sunlight.