Engineering news
Automotive giant Bosch has a global team of 2,000 engineers working on automated driving technologies as it backs the emergence of driver assistance systems across car segments.
Dr Rolf Bulander, chairman of the mobility solutions division of Robert Bosch, said that automated driving would make road transport networks much safer by eliminating human errors, which are the root cause of nine out of ten accidents.
Bulander said Bosch was committed to the development of automated driving, and was investing heavily in the engineering resources to deliver technologies such as radars and video sensors.
He said: “Some 2,000 developers are working on functions such as these at Bosch – a good 700 more than two years ago. Bosch technology will enable the cars of the future not only to autonomously accelerate and brake, but also steer.”
Bulander said that the trend towards automated driving was already delivering growth within the Bosch business. He said: “Automated driving is coming via a market that is already expanding rapidly: the market for driver assistance systems. Bosch’s sales in this market are currently growing by a third each year.
“Our sales of radar and video sensors will once again double in 2015, as they did in 2014. Last year was the first time that we sold more than 50 million sensors all told for driver assistance systems.
“We're starting production of a range of new assistance systems covering remote parking, traffic jams, evasive action, and turning against oncoming traffic. By 2020, we want to produce a highway pilot for automated driving on freeways.”
Meanwhile, Bosch is also investing heavily in the electrification of the powertrain. Bulander said that electromobility was coming – despite the challenges of having to build up the infrastructure network.
“Some three million charge spots will have been installed around the world – ten times as many as in 2013. This gives the market ample room for growth in the next decade.
“By 2025, 15% of all new vehicles will feature an electrified powertrain.”
Bulander said that automated driving and electrification were underpinning strong growth in Bosch's mobility solutions business, which generated sales of €33.3 billion in 2014.
The mobility division encompasses 126 manufacturing sites and 59 engineering centres, with a total workforce of 205,000. Of these, more than 39,500 are engineers and scientists who work in research and development.