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Source: Bosch announcement
STUTTGART/HANNOVER, Germany – From climate action and cost pressure to driver shortages, the global transportation and logistics industry is facing enormous challenges. Bosch delivers appropriate solutions to meet these challenges.
As it moves toward the goal of climate-neutral freight transport, the technology company is steadily expanding its commercial-vehicle (CV) powertrain portfolio. In addition to diesel powertrains, which will continue to play a vital role in commercial vehicles for some time to come, Bosch also offers battery-electric and fuel-cell powertrains.
The company has now incorporated another option, the hydrogen engine, to fill the gap in alternative powertrains, particularly for heavy construction vehicles and agricultural machinery.
“Climate action is moving freight transport in more diverse directions. We expect alternative powertrains to drive major growth in our business over the course of the decade,” said Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector, at this year’s IAA Transportation in Hannover.
In a world full of uncertainties, sales in Bosch’s Mobility Solutions business sector have grown by six percent so far this year after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. Bosch generates one-fourth of its sales revenue from commercial-vehicle technology, ranging from vans to 40-ton trucks. In addition to powertrains, the other pillars of Bosch’s commercial-vehicle business are driver assistance systems and connectivity.
Bosch is teaching trucks to drive
Bosch is in its element not only in hardware, but also in software. Half the R&D associates in the Mobility Solutions business sector are software engineers. Among other things, this promotes the development of automated driving.
Bosch has 1,100 engineers working on this topic, and it supplies software, sensors, vehicle computers, and actuators from a single source.
“Automated driving is coming, due in part to the acute driver shortage. And nowhere does automated driving make more economic sense than in commercial vehicles,” Heyn said.
Across Europe, there is already a shortage of 400,000 drivers. Bosch aims to implement driverless operation on freeways by the end of the decade.
In 2025, a vehicle computer that enables sensor data to be processed in real time will go into large-scale production at a European truck manufacturer. Bosch technology will make the electronics architecture in future commercial vehicles significantly more powerful, thereby delivering the basis for the software-defined truck.
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On the road toward automated driving, the company is doing good business with driver assistance systems. Best example: corner radar sensor in trucks. This market will grow by 40 percent over the next few years, Bosch by almost 60 percent. The company’s efforts here are driven by various factors, including the legal requirements for preventing road accidents with commercial vehicles
