Bosch Sets Up New Division for Connected Mobility Ser-vices

Bosch has set up a new division for connected mobility services. This division will serve to connect 600 associates who will be engaged in the development and sale of digital mobility services like ridesharing, vehicle sharing, ridesharing, and connectivity-based services for car drivers.

Commenting on the new division, Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management, at the Bosch ConnectedWorld 2018 IoT conference in Berlin sai dthat connectivity is set to transform how we get from one point to another and Bosch has set up the new division as part of its strategy to achieve the goal of realizing its vision of emissions-free, stress-free, and accident-free mobility.

Based on statistics provided by Price Waterhouse Coopers, there will be over 470 million connected vehicles on the road by 2025 and in four years, the market for mobility services and associated digital services is expected to amount to 140 billion euros

“Connected driving is a growth area for Bosch. Bosch aims for significant double-digit growth with the solutions it offers,” Denner said. The new division is expected to further expand the existing service portfolio.

Bosch enters the ridesharing business
Ridesharing has become increasingly popular and by 2022, the number of ridesharing users worldwide is projected to increase by 60 percent to 685 million (source: Statista). Currently, ridesharing is mainly targeted at people who might be heading to the same destinations. Bosch recently acquired SPLT, a U.S. start-up that has developed a platform that companies, universities, or municipal authorities can use to arrange ridesharing for their staff. This B2B approach targets those who would want to share a vehicle heading to the same workplace or institution of study.

One advantage is that those who share rides will be with colleagues and not with complete strangers. The platform uses an algorithm that searches for a suitable rideshare, calculates the fastest route through traffic, and thus handles the complex task of coordinating the pickup points, time of departure, best routes, and the passengers.

Digital services for electric vehicles
Bosch subsidiary COUP has provided e-scooters for rent in Berlin since 2016. COUP launched the e-scooter sharing concept in Paris in 2017, and is set to launch a similar service in Madrid in 2018, taking the total number of e-scooters to 3,500. Denner said that digital services are expected to give electric driving a boost.

Eliminating range anxiety: Services that encourage everyday use
One key barrier when it comes to electric vehicles is range anxiety. Bosch will connect the electric drive to the cloud, so that the system can produce an “extended range forecast” by considering factors like the current battery charge, energy consumption of heating or air conditioning, and the driver’s driving style, as well as factors relating the external environment like the current traffic scenario and the terrain on the forthcoming journey to calculate the precise range. For longer journeys in an electric car, Bosch can supplement the extended range forecast with a “charging assistant”, a service that gives details of all the charge spots on a journey and also gives additional information about restaurants, cafés, and shopping options so that drivers can make the best use of their time. A third service manages vehicle charging in smart homes, so that motorists can make optimal use of grid energy. The car’s battery will supplements the stationary storage device for the house’s photovoltaic system. While the car’s battery will absorbs excess solar power during the day, during the night, it will feed it back to the grid as needed.
4,000 participants, 70 exhibitors, and 140 speakers
At the Bosch ConnectedWorld forum for the IoT industry in Berlin, over 70 exhibitors showcased the technological breakthroughs that have been made with regard to the internet of things, and how thye can improve our daily lives. The event had 4,000 delegates, roughly 140 speakers and 70 exhibitors and is the fifth event of its kind. It is one of the world’s largest conferences on the internet of things.