Bosch Maps Electronics Future at CES
In 2020, the supplier expects massive savings at its 250 manufacturing plants worldwide because “Industry 4.0” hardware and software will allow assessing data in real time, ensuring unprecedented gains in production flexibility, logistics and safety.
January 5, 2016
LAS VEGAS – As Robert Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier with deep electronics expertise, looks to the future on the first day of CES 2016, here are some forecasted dates to remember:
2016: When the supplier plans to market a guardian angel in the cloud – a low-cost smartphone app that detects when another vehicle is driving the wrong way and serves a warning. The new software-based function will be available as a cloud service.
2016: When eCall, Bosch’s sensor-based emergency notification system, which launched in 2012 as factory-installed technology on new vehicles, becomes available as a retrofit solution, plugged into the cigarette lighter to detect collisions and send relevant information to one of many Bosch service centers around the world.
2018: When Bosch expects to deliver technology allowing fully automated parking by connected vehicles in smart cities. In theory, a driver arrives at a destination and the car parks itself, then returns to the drop-off point when it’s time to go home.
2019: When the company expects to produce 173 million micromechanical sensors annually, up from 76 million in 2015. No.1 in the market, Bosch supplies high-tech MEMS sensors for fitness wristbands, watches, smartphones and other electronic devices. Since 1995, Bosch has churned out a staggering 6 billion MEMS sensors.
2020: When 230 million households worldwide (15% of the global market) will feature smart home technology capable of determining if windows are open, the stove was left on or whether there’s milk in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow. Bosch is diversifying well beyond traditional automotive component supply to help ensure homes are connected.
2020: When Bosch expects fully autonomous vehicles to be equipped for highway travel without a human at the controls. The supplier already is testing this automated “highway pilot” concept on public roads in Germany, the U.S. and Japan.
2020: When the company expects savings in the hundreds of millions of dollars at its 250 manufacturing plants worldwide because “Industry 4.0” hardware and software will allow assessing data in real time, ensuring unprecedented gains in production flexibility, logistics and safety.
2050: When two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities, which will require intelligent networking of power grids, traffic infrastructure and buildings. Bosch’s “Internet of Things” software platform is intended to integrate the functions necessary for connecting devices, users and services.
The ideas may sound fantastical further in the future, but Bosch Chairman Volkmar Denner sees new technologies transforming everyday life, particularly with the Smart Home System, which ties in Bosch expertise in sectors such as home appliances, heating and security systems.
“Featuring one platform, one app and one user interface, it connects all compatible home-related devices, including those of other manufacturers,” Denner says at a press conference here.
PAGE BREAK: No Cars Left Behind
“To simply and quickly operate electronics, appliances, and lighting in your home, all you need is a central control device and a smartphone or tablet.”
Understanding that no company can create the connected world alone, Bosch has joined forces with Philips to create connected self-learning lighting in homes.
“And last year, we launched mozaiq operations, a joint venture with ABB and Cisco,” Denner says. “Our goal here is to establish a B2B software platform for the smart home, which will be open to suppliers from widely differing sectors.”
Clearly, Bosch is expanding well beyond its traditional role, having renamed its Automotive Technologies operations as Mobility Solutions last year. Google and Tesla are among Bosch’s newer automotive customers.
But Denner says that step should not be perceived as de-emphasizing electronic stability control, fuel injectors and other core powertrain parts.
“I want this unit to come up with complete mobility solutions,” he tells journalists after his speech, saying the automated parking system requires “complete solutions, not just components.”
Mobility Solutions constitutes 60% of the company’s global revenues. “It’s the core of our Bosch business,” he says.
Although the auto industry often is considered from the old economy, Denner says those businesses remain highly profitable for Bosch relative to the fiercely competitive new sectors into which the supplier is expanding.
“It’s really hard to make as much money in these new businesses,” he says.
Denner says Bosch had a good 2015 and carries that momentum into the new year.
In North America, where the supplier employs more than 30,000 people in 100 locations, Denner says the company recorded year-on-year sales growth of 7%. “This is considerably higher than we expected,” he says.
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