Bosch Chassis Systems Control division president Gerhard Steiger won Eurostar 2013 award in the “Supplier Division CEO” category

Road safety: “Bosch is a technological leader in automated driving”

• Eurostar 2013 award for Bosch manager
• Bosch is conducting test drives on German freeways
• Series start of traffic-jam assist in 2014

03-9-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Fingers off, hands up – for Gerhard Steiger, president of the Bosch Chassis Systems Control division, these two phrases have now taken on a new meaning. For a good two years now, a project team in his division has been investigating fully automated driving. On freeways, drivers can already take their hands off the wheel – and still be guided safely through traffic. “Bosch is a technological leader in automated driving. And Gerhard Steiger is a driving force behind this fascinating technology,” says Luca Ciferri, editor of Automotive News Europe. It was for this reason that Automotive News Europe singled out the Bosch manager for the Eurostar 2013 award in the “Supplier Division CEO” category. For more than ten years now, this award has been presented in various categories to people from the automotive industry.

For Steiger himself, the award is further evidence that Bosch is on the right track with automated driving. In developing driver assistance and automated driving, he said, the company is pursuing an important goal – that of injury- and accident-free driving. In his acceptance speech, Steiger said: “At every step along the way to this goal, Bosch will be involved.”

Driving force for more safety
Even in the past, Bosch inventions have had a decisive impact on automotive safety: the electronically controlled antilock braking system in 1978, electronic airbag control in 1980, and the electronic stability program in 1995. Bosch adaptive cruise control was launched in 2000, and predictive emergency braking in 2010. But Bosch is not just making systems more powerful, it is making them more cost-effective as well. “Cost reductions pave the way for driver assistance in the compact class,” Steiger says. As a first phase of automated driving, Bosch is launching the traffic-jam assist in 2014. This assistant brakes, accelerates, and steers completely automatically. It will work at speeds up to 50 kph, which means that it covers typical stop-and-go traffic situations. In the years ahead, the scope of functions will be successively extended, leading in the end to fully automated driving.

As well as assistance and safety systems, Bosch is working to continuously improve internal-combustion engines, and is developing alternative powertrains for electric vehicles, efficient peripheral systems, and a hydraulic hybrid. Bosch engineers are equally focused on sophisticated multimedia solutions and user-friendly interfaces.

Automotive Technology is the largest Bosch Group business sector. In 2012, its sales came to 31.1 billion euros, or 59 percent of total group sales. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. Its roughly 177,000 Automotive Technology associates worldwide mainly work in the following areas of business: injection technology for internal-combustion engines, alternative powertrain concepts, efficient and networked powertrain peripherals, systems for active and passive driving safety, assistance and comfort functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as car-to-car and Car2X communication, and concepts, technology, and service for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch has been responsible for 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. In fiscal 2012, its roughly 306,000 associates generated sales of 52.5 billion euros. Since the beginning of 2013, its operations have been divided into four business sectors: Automotive Technology, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 360 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 50 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spent some 4.8 billion euros for research and development in 2012, and applied for nearly 4,800 patents worldwide. The Bosch Group’s products and services are designed to fascinate, and to improve the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. In this way, the company offers technology worldwide that is “Invented for life.”

Further information is available online at www.bosch.com and www.bosch-press.com, http://twitter.com/BoschPresse.

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President, Chassis Systems Control Division Robert Bosch GmbH