Everyone has a foosball table

Holger Löbel

"Driver assistance systems ... pfff" - the grumbling in the driver's stomach condenses into a tight knot when parking in the Baselabs yard. Reversing, of course, and self-steering, of course.

We then walk forwards into the building of the company, which was only founded as a proper business two years ago. Before that, it was all science, as Holger Löbel, one of the founders, will explain later.

The building is cool and smells pleasantly of engineering and brainpower. Ring the doorbell, a friendly welcome, into the company kitchen with its cosy sofa. Everything is just as you would expect from a software start-up. Only the grumbling remains.

But Holger Löbel, the company's Head of Marketing and Finance, is not only a doer, he is also an encourager.

The image of his company is immediately and sympathetically corrected. The company does not develop the driver assistance systems itself - the interviewer relaxes slightly - but the software for developing these systems, which is taken over by the car manufacturers themselves. VW, BMW, Daimler and the like would then be responsible for the little helpers in modern cars, which would gradually help to determine driving behaviour. Well, that's a start. Let's quickly agree on the "you" and off we go:

Holger, the layman has the classic brake assistant in mind when he thinks of "driver assistance systems". Ultimately, driver assistance systems are supposed to make driving easier for people or, at some point, take it off their hands completely. This not only gives passionate self-drivers a headache, but also makes their stomachs rumble - how do you convince them of the benefits of a driver assistance system?
Holger Löbel: Even the most passionate self-driver will probably not enjoy driving in traffic jams or on long motorway stretches. That should be taken off the driver's hands. On the other hand, this means that you can enjoy driving the routes in the car that you would like to drive yourself, for example the much-cited country road.
When the traffic is heavier and a lot of attention has to be paid to other road users, driver assistance comes to the rescue. The first traffic jam assistants are now on the market, which automatically drive the vehicle in stop-and-go traffic, for example. This reduces stress and increases the overall enjoyment of driving.

In your opinion, is Chemnitz a congested city?
Well, I mostly cycle. (Laughs.) So I can't really judge that. But I don't think that's the main problem in Chemnitz. Of course, accidents happen all the time in Chemnitz too. Unfortunately, we've often had accidents involving children recently. The development in the driver assistance area is to better protect so-called "vulnerable road users" in particular, i.e. children or other pedestrians and cyclists. This would of course also benefit Chemnitz.

Is Chemnitz generally child-friendly in this respect? Do you have children yourself?
I think Chemnitz is a relatively child-friendly city and my subjective perception is that there are more children in the city again. But it could also be that it's simply because of my age that I see them more often now. (Laughs.) I don't have any children yet. But the childcare situation is obviously good, not perfect but quite good and there is a very green environment, which not only appeals to children, but which I personally find very beautiful.

If you look at the company history of Baselabs, you would think that you develop rocket engines. You were founded two years ago and already have customers from Daimler to Scania. With regard to the "maker" theme: do you still have to have maker qualities with a good idea like yours?
I think so. The automotive industry in particular is pretty tough when it comes to new topics or getting into it as a small company. So it's a long road and you need perseverance, a lot of grit and, above all, a good team. But I think that in Chemnitz, it's reasonably easy to realise the maker qualities that you bring to the table. There is very good support here for setting up companies. Particularly from the university and especially through SAXEED, the business start-up network. We also have the Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS) here, which is also represented in Chemnitz and which finances us. I have to say, the start-up climate in Chemnitz is very good!

Is that a clear commitment to Chemnitz?
Yes, it is a very clear commitment. We have our roots here. It's not just two years of Baselabs as a company. Before that, we existed for almost two years as a project at the TU. And before that, my technical colleagues from the founding team and some of the employees we now have were involved in research for several years. So there is a very strong connection to the university and family roots in the region. So I myself see Baselabs in Chemnitz.

Were you born here?
Not me, no. I come from Hanover, but my three co-founders are all from the city. However, I also have family roots in the city - my great-grandfather had a workshop for electric motors at the foot of the Sonnenberg. The successor company to this business still exists in Chemnitz and I also have relatives here.

Why did you study in Chemnitz?
I was looking for a place to study business administration with a link to information technology. Chemnitz was one of the few universities that offered this. I started my degree programme in 2000, at the end of the so-called dotcom phase.

From a technological or innovative point of view, the move to Chemnitz works, as you can see from your example. You say, "I want to develop, I want to drive something forward, I'm looking for a location for innovation" - so the city can be highly recommended?
Certainly! I lived and worked in Munich for three years after graduating and I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be easy to find all this support for your own start-up project there. It's all much bigger and there are more people involved. Chemnitz is a city of short distances and that can be seen both locally and in terms of contacts.

According to its image, Chemnitz is also a car city. In fact, the cityscape is characterised by wide lanes in the streetscape and many well-developed traffic routes. This traffic route system, which some people certainly don't like, must surely be the ideal playground for Baselabs? If so, how do you test on the streets of Chemnitz?
Well, in co-operation with the university, we test on the roads here, that's right. As Baselabs provides the software for the development of driver assistance systems, the TU also uses our software for research. The university has a measuring vehicle on the roads in Chemnitz, which runs our software and is then used to research the latest systems.

Suppose you were commissioned to develop a traffic concept for Chemnitz with a view to driver assistance systems or autonomous driving - what would Chemnitz look like in 20 years' time?
In the industry, we are increasingly seeing the link between the individual vehicle and the infrastructure. It's about traffic lights, for example, signalling in advance: "I'm about to switch to red". If this is introduced across the board, it would be possible to control traffic peaks much better. Traffic jams could be prevented before they even occur. Thinking further, this means that during rush hour, including in Chemnitz, the volume of traffic jams would be lower because the existing roads would be better utilised. It would also be possible for every driver entering the city centre to know in advance where to find a parking space because, for example, free parking spaces can be reported. The secret lies in linking the individual vehicle with other vehicles and the infrastructure.

Keyword sports city Chemnitz: On your website, we can read that you regularly organise table tennis tournaments at Baselabs. This is familiar from Californian developer farms or creative agencies, where a foosball table is a must.
Everyone has a foosball table. (Laughs.)

So the demarcation is the table tennis table, but the somewhat ambiguous question still arises: How creative do you have to be as a software developer? Especially when it comes to vehicle assistance systems, where the goal is already predetermined.
I think very creative. Because the goal is known, but the way to get there is not. You can often read that a lot is possible in this area. But there are still a lot of unsolved problems and the solutions that exist now are not yet suitable for everyday use. Finding new technical ways to make this system possible, and above all to make it cost-effective, requires a lot of creativity.

You said earlier that you ride a bike yourself, a mountain bike. Classic or autonomous e-bike?
(Laughs.) The classic way. I ride my mountain bike in the city, but also outside.

Back to our section: Do you see yourself as a "doer"? Or are you more of a team-maker? What does a doer have to bring to the table? What qualities must they have?
I think we as a team are doers, and perhaps each individual is a bit of a doer. You have to have the drive to not just look for a job, which would certainly have been very easy for my technical colleagues in particular, given their qualifications. You have to be able to say: I also take the risk of setting up something myself and then profiting from it if it works well, but also not profiting at all if it doesn't work out. It's not quite as cushioned as a permanent position in the industry. To be able to do this and motivate yourself and others, to take your employees along with you on this journey and to achieve great results together - this certainly requires doer qualities, which are present in our team.

The bicycle plays a major role for you, as it increasingly does for many people in Chemnitz. Would you say that there is a certain subculture of cyclists in Chemnitz?
There certainly is, but I wouldn't count myself among them, I'm not that deeply involved. But we do have the HEAVY 24, the mountain bike race, for example, which was created locally.

Do you ride in it?
No, I don't ride that much. (Laughs.) Maybe it's a goal for later. But there is also this race, this ride to the Fichtelberg, for example. There is already a very active scene in the cycling sector.

Do you even have to, or if you had to: how would you encourage the people of Chemnitz with one sentence?
Even though I'm a marketer, I don't think I can say that in one sentence. But I think there is a lot to be proud of here in Chemnitz. Perhaps we should reflect on that a little more. And above all on the development of the last 15 years, in which a lot has happened. I think we have achieved a lot here. And I also think that this city has a very, very bright future. And that's up to each and every one of us.

Do you feel like a Chemnitz resident?
Yes.