Bosch wants to turn cars into personal assistants
In software-driven mobility, Bosch Mobility’s business continues to develop – from hardware with embedded software, to services, to completely independent software that manufacturers and partners then integrate into their ecosystems. “Whether stand-alone or interconnected, standardized, integrated, or decoupled – we can offer everything exactly as the customer wants it,” Hartung said. This is clearly having an impact: despite stagnating global vehicle production, weak demand, and delays in electromobility and automated driving, Bosch Mobility will grow slightly in the current year. The increase in sales revenue is expected to amount to a little less than 2 percent.
Up to today, a vehicle was never as new as the moment it was delivered. “In the future, however, its software will be continuously updated and it will be constantly learning by means of artificial intelligence,” Heyn said. “More than anything else, the new mobility is user centered.” This is what that looks like: Bosch’s Vehicle Motion Management software coordinates all vehicle movements by centrally controlling the brakes, steering, powertrain, and chassis. This improves coordination between the individual systems – and also means they can be adjusted to the driver’s preferences. A particularly smooth ride today? A little more agility tomorrow? And jolt-free stopping the day after? No problem – at the touch of a button, the car feels completely different. Incidentally, Bosch’s Vehicle Motion Management is decoupled from the hardware, which makes it easy to use in different vehicle architectures.
That’s not just theory, it’s happening: the Bosch software is in widespread use, with more than two dozen manufacturers in Europe, China, and Japan already having adopted it. Over the next three years, Bosch will be investing a nine-figure sum in Vehicle Motion Management and expanding its modular software and function portfolio across all domains. Vehicle Motion Management from Bosch works even better in combination with by-wire solutions, because the software can control the respective braking and steering actuators independently of the driver’s actions – for greater safety, improved convenience, or better vehicle dynamics.
Bosch’s smart software makes the difference
Bosch’s ADAS product family is also software-driven. For intelligent driver assistance systems, vehicle manufacturers can choose from three preconfigured variants that can then be put into production quickly and in a brand-specific way. Here, too, hardware and software can be integrated or purchased separately, depending on customer requirements. Both options benefit from a holistic approach: since Bosch understands the interaction between hardware and software, it can offer individually optimized solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into existing environments.
Modern vehicles, which are designed and developed from a software standpoint, make use of ever fewer, but more powerful vehicle computers. These are a growth driver for Bosch: its high-performance computer business is currently growing by more than 5 percent every year, with automakers such as the BMW Group among the customers. Bosch also offers central vehicle computers that combine various functions, such as in driver assistance and infotainment, on just one control unit and one system on a chip (SoC). This saves space, costs, and energy. These systems have a modular structure and can flexibly integrate software from different manufacturers. In China, Bosch is supplying a high-performance computer to SAIC-GM to create a cockpit featuring artificial intelligence. Thanks to this AI cockpit, drivers can talk to their car in a completely natural way and interact with it as if it were a human being.
Bosch’s knowledge and expertise make it a sought-after partner
The software-driven future is fundamentally changing the automotive industry. Bosch wants to seize the opportunities this new world presents – and is in a good position to do so. Hardly any other company combines hardware and software expertise and global presence as seamlessly as Bosch. This makes the company a flexible and reliable partner for the development of intelligent and connected vehicles. After all, strategic partnerships are crucial, particularly where new business models and scalable software systems are concerned. In China, Bosch is already working with WeRide and Horizon Robotics on the development of systems for assisted and automated driving. In Europe, Bosch and the VW subsidiary Cariad are strategic partners in this area. Bosch assumes that such alliances will become increasingly important in the future, and that the proportion of software in vehicles will continue to rise – and with it, the benefits for drivers in the form of even safer and more convenient mobility.