Shirley, UK – ZF, the world’s leading supplier of automotive cameras, has joined forces with Zenzic and its partners to help speed up delivery of Connected Automated Mobility (CAM) technology for the effective and efficient movement of people and goods.
ZF Group supplies over a dozen key vehicle manufacturers globally with advanced ADAS sensor technologies including front-facing cameras and both mid- and full-range radar. Production of solid-state LiDAR will begin in the near future. All ZF technologies are manufactured to automotive grade: designed and tested according to rigorous automotive and customer requirements.
In the UK, ZF joins Zenzic in the self-driving revolution, uniting industry, government and academia, helping to set the world standard for excellence. “ZF is a great example of how important it is for the automotive industry to join with other sectors to help create the future of mobility”, said Mark Cracknell, Head of Technology at Zenzic.
Zenzic and its partners adopt a collaborative approach, having a multiplier effect on the CAM ecosystem. Collaboration delivers incremental value to all stakeholders and improves coordination between leading countries in the drive to a mobile future. Peter Lakie, ZF’s SVP Sales, based at ZF Shirley says of the roadmap, “The opportunity to collaborate across the many sectors represented by the roadmap has great synergy with the ethos of ZF. The company believes that partnerships and collaboration fuel results.”
A key focus for Zenzic is to drive collaboration within the CAM arena in the UK, and to promote the acceleration of a world-class testing and development ecosystem for connected and autonomous vehicle technologies – core to this is leading and shaping a world-class testbed. “CAM test bed UK, has a real-life test infrastructure that runs across the UK and ZF’s location here, places it centrally to all UK testbed facilities.” says Lakie.
ZF has an integrated vision of safe, clean mobility that is comfortable, convenient, affordable and automated. In the UK, the company has a well-established Research & Development facility in Shirley, West Midlands. The location is a multi-disciplinary, multi-divisional site working on the development of key technologies and system solutions for Active Safety systems including: Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), Cyber-Security, Electronics, Braking and Steering Systems as well as Powertrain solutions and Race Engineering. These technologies are all contributing to next-generation mobility solutions, utilizing high levels of autonomous driving and electromobility. UK investment here will see the facility transfer to new, purpose-built accommodation in the locality. With the facility newly identified within the group as ZF Hub UK, the construction will be completed in 2021.
State of the Art Automotive Camera Production
In addition, ZF has multiple manufacturing locations in the UK, including state of the art vehicle camera production facilities in Peterlee, County Durham. In recent years the company invested around £30million at the Peterlee facility, funding new production lines for its next-generation camera technologies. The cameras produced at Peterlee supply major vehicle manufacturers globally.
In 2019, the factory began production of the latest generation system incorporating long term partner Mobileye’s EyeQ4 technology, which has powerful object recognition capabilities (eight times more than the previous generation). ZF incorporates this technology in its innovative S-Cam camera family, which also includes an industry-first premium three lens Tri-Cam4 version, to support advanced semi-automated driving functions. It incorporates a telephoto lens for improved long-distance sensing capabilities and a fish-eye lens for improved short-range sensing with a wider field of view.
The latest generation, S-Cam 4 family, represents a big step forward in camera technology. The advanced object recognition capabilities help perform the more complex tasks associated with automated driving and more advanced automatic emergency braking. Among the first-ever cameras to offer the capability of a 100-degree horizontal field of view, the S-Cam4.8 is one which represents another important step forward in meeting future Euro NCAP 5-Star Safety Ratings and went into series production this year.
Images: ZF
1.ZF is a world leader in the supply of cameras to more than a dozen vehicle manufacturers. Next camera generation: the S-Cam4 family including this three-lens version – the Tri-Cam4.
2.Collaboration Fuels results: ibeoNEXT Solid State LiDAR is being produced by ZF
3.Wider field of view: The S-Cam 4.8 identifies more vehicles, and importantly, vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists are detected.
4.ZF UK: State-of-the-art vehicle camera manufacturing in the North East of England
