Zeeland,
Michigan — Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX), a leading
supplier of digital vision, connected car, dimmable glass and fire protection
technologies, was recently named a 2020 Technology and Development Award winner
by Toyota Motor Corporation. This award recognizes automotive suppliers for
superior innovation and product development efforts.
Gentex was
recognized for its digital video recorder (DVR) system, which launched in 2020
on the Toyota Harrier in Japan. The DVR system is built into a Gentex Full Display Mirror®,
or FDM®, a digital rearview mirror that uses a custom camera and
mirror-integrated video display to optimize a vehicle’s rearward view. The
mirror is the ideal location for the DVR system because it leverages the
existing advanced electronics already in the mirror and eliminates packaging
complexity.
The DVR system
continuously records road scenes using the vehicle’s front and rear cameras
onto a removable microSD card and then automatically overwrites older video
files once the memory becomes full. In the event of vehicle impact, the DVR
system protects the video file and saves it for viewing on a computer. Drivers
can also manually trigger the system to record and protect short clips or
photos with a single button push.
Despite the
challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gentex and Toyota completed the
development and launch of this product in just 18 months, which is about a year
shorter than the normal development lead-times for this product.
“We are very
proud of our engineering team here at Gentex,” said Neil Boehm, Gentex’s chief
technology officer and vice president of engineering. “We were able to partner
with Toyota and adapt to the unique circumstances brought about by the pandemic
to meet this critical need and launch our DVR system on a very short timeline.”