Joachim Mathes started his career in the sensor development team of former SWF in 1989 after graduating in electronic engineering at BA Stuttgart. When, in 1995, the company changed to ITT Automotive, he joined the project management organization and worked on business development with customers worldwide. After the acquisition by Valeo in 1998, he took over the responsibility for project management in the new Division. In the year 2000, when a new Branch was created for the Switches and Detection Systems, Joachim was appointed Director for R&D and Product Marketing. In this function he strengthened Valeo’s technology portfolio through a series of technology partnerships.
From 2007, Joachim was in charge of the Driving Assistance Domain at Valeo to foster transversal innovation. In his second function as R&D Director Detection Systems he lead the development of Park4U, which has since turned into a scalable product platform.
As R&D Director of the newly created Comfort and Driving Assistance Business Group from 2010, he initiated the Cruise4U and Drive4U programs, which saw successful public demonstrations and form the basis of current series developments. Another key element in Valeo’s automated driving strategy, driven by Joachim, was the launch of the first automotive grade laser scanner with Audi in 2017, which also was recognized by a PACE award in 2018 and has since been adopted by several global OEMs.
In July 2019 Joachim was nominated CTO for the Comfort and Driving Assistance Business Group.
