Volkswagen Group subsidiary Cariad and Bosch have announced an extensive partnership to accelerate the introduction of automated driving functions across all vehicle classes. The companies want to make partially and highly automated driving suitable for volume production.
For the vehicles sold under the Volkswagen Group brands, the alliance aims to make functions available that will allow drivers to temporarily take their hands off the steering wheel.
These functions are Level 2 hands-free systems for urban, extra-urban, and freeway driving, as well as a system that takes over all driving functions on the freeway (SAE Level 3).
The first of these functions are to be installed in 2023.
For partially and highly automated driving, the two companies will jointly develop a state-standardised software platform.
More than 1,000 experts from Bosch and Cariad will collaborate in engineering work, with joint development targets to be explored and evaluated for Level 4.
Bosch board of management member, Dr. Markus Heyn, says: “For privately owned vehicles, progress to automated driving happens one step at a time. At Bosch, we’ve been working successfully on this for many years now. Together with Cariad, we will now be accelerating the market launch of partially and highly automated driving functions across all vehicle classes, and thus making them available for everyone. This will make driving on the roads safer and more relaxed.”
“Automated driving is key to the future of our industry. With our cooperation, we’ll strengthen Germany’s reputation for innovativeness. Bosch and Cariad will further enhance their expertise in the development of pioneering technologies,” adds Dirk Hilgenberg, Cariad CEO. “This underscores our ambition to deliver the best possible solutions to our customers as soon as possible.”
Dr. Ingo Stürmer, the alliance’s project director at Cariad, comments: “Together, we can test automated driving functions on a broader scale in actual vehicles and implement them more quickly. Our engineering work will be done jointly, with Bosch and Cariad as one team. There has never been an alliance like this in the automotive industry.”
At various locations belonging to the two companies, and especially in Stuttgart and Ingolstadt, associates from the Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions division and Cariad will work together to develop these partially and highly automated driving functions.
