Continental builds new plant for ADAS in the USA

The purpose of the new building is to expand its capacity for the production of radar sensors. “Advanced driver assistance systems save lives. Continental is one of the world’s market leaders in this area. We are benefiting from steadily increasing fitment rates in new vehicles. And in the future, too, we are anticipating major growth opportunities,” says Frank Jourdan, responsible for the business area 'Autonomous Mobility and Safety' at Continental, in a press release. "Over the next five years, we are planning further investments in the high triple-digit million Euro range in the areas of assisted and automated driving. The capacity expansion in New Braunfels is part of our growth strategy," Jourdan adds. For the construction of the new plant in New Braunfels, Texas Continental plans to invest about EUR 100 million over the next three years. At the 20’000 square meter site advanced driver assistance systems will be manufactured. The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for mid-2020, before the scheduled production of radar sensors is planned to start in 2021. This new venture will add another 130 new jobs in the region in addition to the 450 jobs already existing in development and production of driver assistance systems. The company is making sure to point out that these figures do not include further expansion stages of the new plant. To date, Continental produces radar sensors in Seguin, about 25 kilometers from New Braunfels. In addition to New Braunfels, Continental is also represented in the USA by other locations for advanced driver assistance systems: These include a development site in Auburn Hills near Detroit and in Santa Barbara, California, where the company develops Lidar technologies.