Bosch to launch autonomous driving tech
It appears that Bosch is throwing their hat into the ring of autonomous technologies by launching an independently developed technology for use in future vehicles starting with 2014. This is seen as just another step in the car-making industry push towards driverless cars.
The Bosch traffic jam assistant system will enter the market a while before most other car makers will launch their own autonomous systems and it is designed to accelerate, brake and steer vehicles up to 48km/h. This will be the first-generation of the system so it is expected that in the future its capabilities will increase.
Bosch is in a great position to be launching this type of technology system because it is already one of the leading suppliers of many modern vehicle technology systems such as anti-lock brakes – ABS – traction control and electronic stability control – ESC.
They will be offering all the relevant sensors and components required for the development of autonomous driving technologies to their vehicle manufacture customers. The unique components part of the Bosch system include a long-range radar capable of detecting object 250 meters away and a stereo video camera that can detect object in three dimensions.
At the current time the Bosch system only works in heavy traffic conditions so that the vehicle is only really required to follow the car ahead, and according to Gerhard Steiger – Bosch chassis systems control division president – there are still two major challenges in the way of developing fully autonomous vehicles.
The first being inner-city driving, in which case the systems would have to deal with very dense traffic situations involving a very large number of both road users and pedestrians; the second one being to develop a system that will works reliably regardless of the driving situation or driving conditions.
Mercedes-Benz will become the first manufacturer to make autonomous driving technology available in a production car, the 2013 S-Class.
