Report: Paravan founder Roland Arnold: Helicopter as a door opener

In the heart of the Swabian Alb, the world is still in order. People greet each other in a friendly way when they meet on the neatly cleaned footpaths, the baker is also the chairman of the rifle club, the pastor knows each of his followers by their first names and has raised many from the baptismal font. We don’t talk here, we work here. High German: Packed. Such a place is Aichelau. “We’ve always done it this way” is a phrase that people like to use here. If, like Roland Arnold, you are born as the fourth child in a family that farms, your career is mapped out. Fixed, as the lifelines on the Alb are, the eldest son gets the farm and the rest of the offspring have to find their way elsewhere. Tackling is also the order of the day, studying is not on Roland’s timetable.

If your father dies unexpectedly and you are just six years old, life rolls the dice again. Also on the tranquil Alb. “I’ve always felt responsible for the rest of the family ever since,” says Roland Arnold. Having ideas, implementing them, supporting mother and siblings, that drives the young man. “I’ve always been problem-solving oriented,” he says. This assertiveness is not limited to business matters. The wiry man, who at 1.74 meters tall is not exactly a giant, does not avoid arguments in the pubs either. “I didn’t put up with anything,” says Roland Arnold with a disarming smile that makes you think he couldn’t shake a little water.

After completing his apprenticeship as a car mechanic, he opened a tire shop and expanded the business with a bodywork shop including a paint shop. Several branches follow. But the example sets a precedent, soon tire dealers are springing up like mushrooms. So new sources of income are needed. Together with his brother Toni, he buys a combine harvester to work the large fields in the new federal states. As soon as time permits, he immediately returns to his core operations. On the way back from such an assignment in 1997, life took another turn. At a motorway service station near Chemnitz, Roland sees a woman trying to heave her husband, who is in a wheelchair, into the car in the pouring rain. The project succeeds, the man slips out of the wheelchair and slams onto the wet asphalt. Together they manage to get the man into the car.

When the woman tells the Swabian that it would be great for her if her husband could drive his own car again, the enterprising entrepreneur can’t let go of the idea. How can a paraplegic drive a car? The man in the wheelchair controls and moves it with a joystick. “That’s how I came up with the idea. If he can move a wheelchair with a joystick, then it should also be possible to move a car”; explains Roland Arnold. His inventive spirit is awakened, Roland looks for the right experts and starts tinkering. A year later, the first wheelchair-accessible vehicle, a Chrysler Voyager, is at a trade fair.

Space Drive 1 was born and with it the possibility of moving a car via Drive by Wire with a joystick, i.e. with one hand or two fingers. Experts are enthusiastic, but skepticism remains in the home village. “There wasn’t even a commercial area here. When I explained to the municipal council that I want to build and become the world market leader in vehicles for disabled people, they looked at me as if I had taken the wrong pills,” laughs Roland Arnold. The resistance is great. A local councilor, who was also a gravedigger by profession, even collected signatures against the young entrepreneur’s plan.

But the ambitious entrepreneur does not let that deter him from his path. “The greater the pressure, the greater my motivation. If the cow doesn’t go in forwards, you have to turn her around and pull her tail in backwards,” says Roland Arnold, explaining his motto in vivid words. When TÜV gave its placet in 2004, this invention, which opened up previously unimagined possibilities for people with disabilities, was ready for the road. A world premiere. Prizes and honors rained down and the company from the tranquil town of 250 became a pioneer in an industry. “The 2005 German Craftsmen’s Prize showed us that we’re on the right track,” says Ronald Arnold.

In between, he also finds the love of his life. He has known his wife Martina, who is eight years his junior, since she was a small child. She pushes the pram and rocks her back and forth in his arms. The two later become friends. When there is a crisis in both of their relationships, Roland goes the typical Arnold way. Somehow he feels that his childhood friend is the right woman. At a big party he addresses his future wife and says half jokingly. “We’re getting married next year.” Martina’s answer: “I’m in”. A good nine months later, Kevin, the first of two sons, was born, followed by Luca in 2003.

Roland Arnold always knew how to get to his goal. Instead of completing the master school, he keeps his money together, got his helicopter pilot’s license and flies to business meetings in an aircraft. “When you land by helicopter, the boss comes right away and not the secretary. That was like a door opener. In addition, I have shown that I am solvent,” he grins mischievously. The approach pays off. In the meantime, the third Space Drive generation is about to be ready for series production and is scheduled to come onto the market in mid-2023. Drive-by-wire technology is a key system for autonomous driving. Here, too, Paravan wants to be involved worldwide together with the supplier Schaeffler.

For Roland Arnold, Paravan remains an affair of the heart and the central pillar of his work. In the meantime, what started out as a company with five employees has grown into a company with around 180 employees and annual sales of around 27 million – without the joint venture with Schaeffler. However, Roland Arnold’s thirst for action is far from satisfied. But the busy entrepreneur no longer stands in the workshop every day, but devotes himself to his hobbies: flying and cars. Anyone who has seen the fine collection of current and classic cars would like to spend the night in Aichelau. Especially since the landscape is also very picturesque. Even the gravedigger greets you in a very friendly way.