Harman Targets Connectivity, User Experience at New HQ Near Detroit

NOVI, MI – Vowing to “win the connectivity battle” Harman International CEO Dinesh Paliwal cut the ribbon on the company’s new North American headquarters in suburban Detroit with help from Ford CEO Mark Fields and local dignitaries.

The new 188,000-sq.ft. (17, 500-sq. m), $30 million facility consolidates a workforce that had been operating out of a number of separate locations in Novi and nearby Farmington Hills.

It will house 1,000 employees working on everything from next-generation navigation and security solutions to over-the-air update services to vehicle-to-vehicle communications.

And of course there will be a lot of folks working on infotainment, audio and speaker systems.

Paliwal acknowledges that even though Harman has been a major supplier of connectivity and Bluetooth technology to automotive and other major industries for seven to eight years, it still is best known as a supplier of high-end audio systems and speakers with brands such as Harman Kardon, JBL and Mark Levinson.

More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and connected-car systems, he says. What’s more, the company's software powers billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile.

Earlier this month at CES, Harman debuted the Life-Enhancing Intelligent Vehicle Solution (LIVS), a scalable connected-car platform that operates the Rinspeed Etos concept car’s comprehensive infotainment system. LIVS combines modular connectivity, camera-based driver assistance, intelligent 3D navigation, personalized entertainment, mobile office tools and over-the-air update capabilities into one package. Harman calls it the most complete system in the industry.

Tom Rivers, Harman’s vice president-Connected Car, demonstrated the system for Fields and other guests in the Etos concept following the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Harman also showed off a safety technology that measures increases in pupil dilation as an indication of a driver’s mental workload. The new proprietary eye- and pupil-tracking system measures high cognitive load and mental multitasking in the driver’s seat and signals the car’s other safety systems to adapt to the driver’s state. The technology represents a major step forward in the domain of advanced safety and driver monitoring systems for vehicles, Harman says.

Ford’s Fields explains the world of connectivity, safety, audio systems and other involvements related to driving is morphing into one singular encounter known as the customer experience.

“We strongly think at Ford that the customer experience is going to become as important, if not more important than the product and technology of the vehicle itself. This includes all elements of the vehicle and features contributing.

“We’re not only focused on creating great products but also great customer experiences and using technology, the hardware and software, to deliver those experiences to consumers in a unique way,” Fields says.

Harman has a global workforce of approximately 28,000 people and sales of $6.4 billion in 2015.

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