CHICAGO -- Continental, one of the world's largest automotive suppliers, has just announced a three-year sponsorship commitment with the Chicago Auto Show that will allow the company to showcase its advanced powertrain, safety, connectivity and infotainment technology with automakers, global media and more than 1.2 million consumers annually.

In 2011, Continental will focus on technology and products developed in Deer Park, Ill., the global headquarters of the company's Infotainment & Connectivity Business Unit. Teams there develop products that use sophisticated software and hardware to change the way drivers and passengers interact with their vehicles and to connect vehicles to each other and the world around them.

"With 600 employees working in Deer Park, Chicago is our hometown auto show, and we're proud to support such a great showcase of the best in automotive design and technology," said Kieran O'Sullivan, executive vice president of Continental's global Infotainment & Connectivity Business Unit. "Our company traces its local roots to the first commercially successful car radios, introduced by Motorola in the 1930s. Today, our teams are at the vanguard of multimedia, connectivity and telematics technology, and we are aggressively recruiting new software and hardware engineers to work in Deer Park on programs to make driving more enjoyable, safer and cleaner."

Continental, which acquired Motorola's automotive electronics business in 2006, launched RESCU, its first telematics product, in the 1996 Lincoln Continental, built by Ford Motor Co.

Today, Continental supplies key components for General Motors' OnStar system and Ford SYNC, and it is also developing the Blue Link system with Hyundai Motor America. All told, Continental says it has helped deliver more than 22 million connected vehicles worldwide and is developing several new advanced multimedia and telematics platforms that showcase the almost unlimited potential of in-vehicle electronics to improve the driving experience.