My twin brother and I had a favorite game in the late 1970s,” Uwe Hahne recalls. “We drove around the house for hours in our Kettcars.” In their imagination, they weren’t on their parents’ property, but on the way to the Opel factory premises . And instead of a Kettcar, they sat in an Ascona 400. That sporty Opel, of which just 268 were built and which her father, an Opel employee, had driven as a company car for a short time. “We were born with a passion for cars,” he says.
And with such childhood memories, it is not surprising that Uwe Hahne actually made his way to Opel on his first day at work – it was May 4, 1998. At the wheel of a Kadett E. Two internships had already taken him to the car manufacturer in Rüsselsheim, and he had also written his thesis here. The entry point for the qualified electrical engineer “with a penchant for computer science” was perfect. Exterior mirrors that can be adjusted at the push of a button or the electronically controlled ABS that prevents the wheels from locking: more and more electronic components were used in cars at the end of the 1990s – with far-reaching consequences for the automotive hardware and software as well as the development processes.
25 years ago
The photo shows Uwe Hahne in 1998. The data logger (photo above) was not only the subject of his diploma thesis, he also dealt intensively with the functioning of the data recording system in his early days in Rüsselsheim. The screenshot below is from a TV report. The “bench boat” was presented in the show “Die Automacher”.
“What’s always appealed to me is that we’ve spearheaded pioneering work over the years—until today.”
Developments and processes that Uwe Hahne helped shape from now on. “My first task was to develop a diagnostic tool using a data logger,” he recalls. A topic that he had already dealt with during his diploma thesis. Errors can be found with the help of the logger if there are problems with the data transfer between the electrical components. In order to rule out such sources of error within the electronic architecture in advance, Uwe Hahne and his colleagues built the so-called “bench boat”. In February 1999, an article appeared in the Opel Post with the headline: “No more long lines”. Digital data buses were used here for the first time to optimize the interaction and data exchange between the components – even before the first prototype was built on the pilot line.
The way to autonomous parking
The electrical and electronic architecture of the models grew – and with it the complexity. Uwe Hahne was responsible for the development of numerous driver assistance systems (advanced driver-assistance systems, ADAS), including the various levels of parking assistants through to autonomous parking. Another specialty was and is the automatic emergency braking function. As a service designer, he is currently responsible for the functions of the active security systems. The focus of the ADAS specialist is on automated and highly automated driving.
Instead of a Kettcar: On his first day at work 25 years ago, Uwe Hahne drove up to Rüsselsheim in his Opel Kadett E, Frisco special model.
Opel love: Of course, the Opel man also used lightning on his wedding day – an Opel Olympia from the Classic collection accompanied him and his wife on the special day.
For his 50th birthday, the colleague treated himself to a trip in an Opel GT from the Classic collection. A trip in the Kadett E GSi is planned for the company anniversary at the end of June.
This is also a reminder of 25 years of Opel: At the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in 2015, Uwe Hahne jumped for the selfie photo at the Opel stand.
patents in series
“What has always appealed to me is that we have always done pioneering work here over the years – until today,” says Uwe Hahne. A fact that can be perfectly combined with his original career aspirations as a child, namely that of being an inventor. Over the years, the electronics specialist has submitted numerous patents, three of which have gone into series production, including the “Method for gradual activation of a collision avoidance system to avoid uncontrollable system interventions”, introduced in 2013/14 for the Astra. And for his company anniversary, the 51-year-old is treating himself to a special journey through time at the end of June: He borrows an Opel Kadett E GSi from the Classic collection to take a trip back to the early days of his time at Opel.
We say: Thank you for the exciting insights into 25 years of Opel and congratulations!
Contact us!
Are you about to celebrate your 25th or 40th anniversary and would you like to share your experiences and memories from the past few years with us? Then please contact opel.post@stellantis.com or write a corresponding note on the declaration of consent to the publication of your anniversary. We look forward to beautiful anniversary stories!
May 2023
Photos: Andreas Liebschner/Opel, private