Hella joins forces with independent vehicle data provider Wejo

Hella, one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, has entered a partnership with connected vehicle data provider Wejo, in order to further improve the performance of the sensors based on data from millions of vehicles. The relationship also aims to potentially develop new data-driven business models. As part of the collaboration, Hella acquired a minority stake in Wejo.

“HELLA is already a strong supplier for a wide range of different sensors. For us, Wejo is an important partner with whom we can also tap into the processing of sensor data in the cloud. More specifically, we want to gain a better understanding of how data is standardized, enriched, and turned into monetizable products on Wejo’s data marketplace,” said Kay Talmi, Managing Director of HELLA Aglaia and responsible for coordinating HELLA’s company-wide software activities. “We are excited to leverage these findings to improve HELLA’s future product portfolio and explore new business models.”

Wejo was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK. The company’s core product is a platform which processes data from 10.6 million connected vehicles from different car manufacturers. These vehicles transmit around 400,000 data points per second, which include movement data such as speed and position of the vehicle, as well as event-related data, for example from a deployed airbag or an activated brake assistant. This data is processed by Wejo and made available to other partners on the platform either directly or in the form of tailored products and services. Wejo’s customers include, for example, transportation and municipal organizations, road authorities and navigation service providers.

The first joint pilot projects between HELLA and Wejo are currently being defined and will begin shortly. A strategic investment in Wejo also forms part of the collaboration between the two companies. The investment has been made by the Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm HELLA Ventures. The contracting parties have agreed not to disclose the exact amount of the investment.