Following last week’s news that Knorr-Bremse has submitted a US$575 million cash offer for Haldex, the company has now announced the successful completion of its acquisition of tedrive Steering Systems, a developer and manufacturer of vehicle steering systems.
The takeover, which has been approved by the antitrust authorities, enables Knorr-Bremse to add steering systems to its portfolio and further expand its systems competence in the commercial vehicle sector.
“The acquisition of tedrive Steering Systems GmbH represents another important element in our expansion of our capabilities as a systems supplier in the global commercial vehicle business. The product synergies between our tradition core competence in braking and the additional steering expertise offered by tedrive provide an ideal basis for the next stage of the complex control processes required for driver assist systems and automated driving,” stated Dr Peter Laier, member of the executive board of Knorr-Bremse responsible for the commercial vehicle systems division.
“The addition of steering systems to our portfolio will help us access new markets. It means that, going forward, we will be able to actively influence both longitudinal and lateral vehicle dynamics – in order to keep the truck in lane automatically, for example, or steer it past a hazard,” Laier added. “This is where tedrive’s iHSA (intelligent Hydraulic Steering Assist) technology plays a decisive part – a hydraulic steering system with electronic actuation, specially developed to meet the demands of automated driving in commercial vehicles.”
With the takeover of tedrive Steering, Knorr-Bremse is forming a new business unit, the Center of Competence (CoC) Steering, as part of Knorr-Bremse Systems for Commerical Vehicles GmbH. The unit is to be managed by tedrive Steering general manager, Thomas Brüse. The acquisition of tedrive Steering means that Knorr-Bremse is taking over 320 employees who work at two production plants in Wülfrath, Germany and at further production, sales and technical facilities in Istanbul, Turkey, Nabereznyje Chelny, Russia, and Michigan, USA.
