Many people wish to focus on other activities while driving rather than constantly concentrating on traffic situations. As autonomous driving features continue to increase, Bosch is establishing a technological foundation that allows drivers to momentarily divert their gaze from the road. This is possible only with reliable information about the vehicle’s surrounding environment. Such information is essential for the vehicle to navigate autonomously, safely, and seamlessly in accordance with traffic flows. Video recognition of the surrounding environment will play a crucial role in the transition from driver assistance to autonomous driving and automatic parking.
In this context, Bosch is not only providing packages that combine hardware and software but is also now introducing its video recognition software as a standalone product within its portfolio. Bosch software can be utilized across various systems on chips regardless of hardware. This offers maximum flexibility to car manufacturers.
Bosch will showcase its video recognition software as an independent product at IAA Mobility 2023. Additionally, it plans to present dedicated camera heads for hardware.
Drivers expect their vehicles to update like smartphones. In the future, various features will be downloadable to vehicles like apps, without the need to replace hardware.
Christopher Hartung, head of Bosch’s Cross-Domain Computing Solutions division, stated, “The future of mobility is defined by software,” adding, “Bosch is restructuring its driver assistance portfolio and providing solutions that our customers require.” In this process, software is becoming a critical element in the development of automotive electronic systems, especially for driver assistance systems. Considering these changes, Bosch is expanding its portfolio for driver assistance, autonomous driving, and automatic parking. In the future, hardware and software components will be offered individually.
Besides radar and ultrasonic options, video-based sensors provide additional functionality for environmental detection in driver assistance and autonomous driving. The image data captured from multiple sensors, such as new Bosch camera heads, can be processed by Bosch software and used in advanced driver assistance features related to driving and parking.
This opens up possibilities for features that can enhance safety. Examples include automatic braking while driving or reversing, as well as convenience features like active cruise control, active lane changes, and parking assistance, along with autonomous driving in highways, bypass roads, and urban streets. To detect and classify obstacles, Bosch software utilizes AI methods such as deep neural networks. When training these networks, Bosch can leverage global databases, thus considering local requirements during the development process.
Sven Ranwer, head of Bosch’s Driver Experience Business Unit, pointed out, “Recently, we have seen customers increasingly requesting individual components that are compatible with other products instead of the full packages offered by suppliers,” adding, “In this context, the industry will demand not only hardware compatibility but also software compatibility that is independent of hardware. “
Bosch has years of experience in developing complete camera systems for driver assistance and has expertise in application-specific software development and software integration. This combination of hardware and software expertise is one of Bosch’s significant strengths. Bosch is continuously developing new intelligent sensors with integrated software. Bosch’s customers can combine camera heads with ADAS integration platforms based on their needs to create individual, modular, and scalable solutions.
Bosch develops and produces core components for vehicles such as sensors, vehicle computers, and software. Each year, Bosch produces over 250 million control units equipped with proprietary software. Bosch also possesses integrated expertise that is increasingly essential in another important field: software integration from various sources and collaboration between the automotive and IT industries for software integration.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr