Mariya Heinbockel
Stefan Heinbockel
Stefan Heinbockel is an award-winning engineer and inventor. Currently he works as a project leader at BMW in Munich. He is responsible for the development of software for car access. The latest development is the BMW Digital Key Plus, launched by BMW and Apple in 2021.
He is interested in all kinds of technology and their application to everyday life. He always keeps his eyes open for interesting technical solutions that he can employ in novel ways, which often leads to new patents for his employers – or to a new blog post.
Another interest of his is the design of complex systems, both in software and in hardware. Techniques he likes to employ are Test Driven Development, static code analysis and formal verification methods.
Career
Stefan earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 2005 – 2008 at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) Stuttgart. During that time, he was employed at Siemens Electronic Design and Manufacturing Services, where he filed his first patents.
In 2008, he won the Freescale Design Challenge together with Jens Böckermann. Their award-winning design was a platform for Energy Harvesting applications which they also patented.
From 2008 to 2010 he made his Master’s degree at the Technical University of Munich. During that time, he worked as a student assistant at the TUM department for Human-Machine Communication.
He spent the autumn of 2009 as an intern at Siemens Corporate Technology in Bangalore, India.
From 2010 to 2012 Stefan worked for the Siemens department of traffic control systems. There he was responsible for software development and system architecture of the EPOS charging systems for electric vehicles.
Since 2012 he has been working for BMW in Munich. He started out as a software developer and is now working as a project lead and software architect. In addition to developing high-quality automotive software, he focusses on ways to improve our cars – which earned him the BMW EE Innovation Award in 2018.
Patents
Stefan has filed more than 15 patents during his career. Here is just a small selection of the patents. He keeps an up-to-date list on his LinkedIn Profile.
- A means for optical data transmission about a free air connection (DPMA)
- Energy Storage with Ultracapacitors (DPMA)
- Energy Storage and Management for Energy Harvesting Applications (DPMA)
- A means for efficiently utilising the capacity of the power grid for charging of electric vehicles (DPMA)Creative Work