Bosch and Daimler: San José announced as city for pilot automated driving trial

Bosch and Daimler have announced that San José will be the pilot city location for the automated on-demand ride-hailing trial. The trial is due to begin in second half of 2019.

Using automated (SAE Level 4/5) Mercedes-Benz S-Class vehicles, Bosch and Daimler will offer the service to a selected user community in the San Carlos/Stevens Creek corridor between downtown and west San José. With its population expected to grow 40 percent in the next two decades, the metropolitan area faces growing transportation challenges.                                                              

Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San José said: “The pilot project is an opportunity to explore how autonomous vehicles can help us better meet future transportation needs.

Dr. Michael Hafner, Vice President Drive Technologies and Automated Driving at Daimler AG said: “For many years we have been pushing autonomous driving. With this pilot we will generate valuable insights to connect fully automated vehicles in the best way with users of future mobility services.”

Dr. Stephan Hönle, senior vice president of the Automated Driving business unit at Robert Bosch GmbH said: “We have to rethink urban transportation. Automated driving will help us complete the picture of future urban traffic.”

The on-demand ride-hailing service app operated by Daimler Mobility Services will demonstrate how mobility services such as car sharing (car2go), ride-hailing (mytaxi), and multi-modal platforms (moovel) can be intelligently connected. The test operation will provide information about how highly and fully automated vehicles can be integrated into a multi-modal transportation network. The intent is to provide a seamless digital experience, in which a selected user community will have the opportunity to hail a self-driving car, monitored by a safety driver, from a designated pick-up location and drive automatically to their destination.

Automated vehicles make urban mobility more attractive

With their joint development work on highly and fully automated driving (SAE level 4/5) in urban environments, Bosch and Daimler aim to improve the flow of traffic in cities, enhance road safety, and provide an important building block for the way traffic will work in the future. Among other things, the technology will boost the attraction of car sharing. Without compromising driving safety, it will allow people to make the best possible use of the time they spend in their vehicles, and open up new mobility opportunities for people without a driver’s license.

Bosch and Daimler associates share the same office space

Bosch and Daimler associates involved in the development project work together in teams in two regions: in the greater Stuttgart area in Germany and, in the United States, around Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley between San José and San Francisco. Since they share the same office space, rapid communication across working disciplines is ensured, and decision-making paths are short. At the same time, they can draw on the combined know-how of their colleagues in the parent companies.

The two companies’ associates are jointly developing the concepts and algorithms for the highly and fully automated drive system. Daimler’s task is to bring the drive system into the car. The company is providing the necessary development vehicles, test facilities, and vehicles for the test fleet. Bosch is responsible for the components specified during the development work, such as sensors, actuators, and control units. For test purposes, Bosch and Daimler use their laboratories and test rigs, plus their respective test sites in Germany. Since obtaining its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles in 2014, Mercedes-Benz has been testing automated vehicles in the Sunnyvale/California region. And since 2016, it has had similar approval for the greater Stuttgart area in Germany. In early 2013, Bosch was the world’s first automotive supplier to test automated driving (SAE level 3) on public roads in Germany and the United States.

Bosch at CES 2019:

*       PRESS CONFERENCE: In Ballrooms B, C, and D, Mandalay Bay Hotel, Las Vegas South Convention Center, Level 2, from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. local time on Monday, January 7, 2019.

*       BOOTH: Tuesday to Friday, January 8–11, 2019, in the Central Hall, booth #14020

*       FOLLOW the Bosch CES 2019 highlights on Twitter: #BoschCES

Mobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. In 2017, its sales came to 47.4 billion euros, or 61 percent of total group sales. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector pursues a vision of mobility that is accident-free, emissions-free, and stress-free, and combines the group’s expertise in the domains of automation, electrification, and connectivity. For its customers, the outcome is integrated mobility solutions. The business sector’s main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 402,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2017). The company generated sales of 78.1 billion euros in 2017. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.

As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility, and connected manufacturing. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 125 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 64,500 associates in research and development.