Siemens buys self-driving software specialist Tass

[August 30, 2017]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German industrial group Siemens has agreed to buy Dutch self-driving software specialist Tass International for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its automotive business, it said on Wednesday.

 A logo of Siemens is pictured on a building in Mexico City, Mexico, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo

Tass makes software that can simulate complex traffic scenarios, validate autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems and replicate the impact of a car crash on a human body.

It has annual turnover of around 27 million euros ($32.3 million) and around 200 employees.

"Tass International is a proven leader in both integrated safety and autonomous driving, two fields of engineering that are increasingly important for the industry," Siemens' Digital Factory unit Chief Executive Jan Mrosik said in a statement.

Siemens said it would combine Tass's software with its own advanced simulation products as well as electronic design capabilities from recently acquired Mentor Graphics.

Siemens bought Mentor Graphics for $4.5 billion earlier this year. It was its biggest industrial software acquisition.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Keith Weir)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.