BOSCH

Bosch: safety, accuracy and convenience are key points in the mobility paradigm revolution

The second phase of the partnership between the University of Minho and Bosch ended with the presentation of the various solutions that were part of the Innovative Car HMI, a program that involved more than 400 engineers and researchers and whose results "are a motivating factor for the continuity of research and development ".In the Innovative Car Experience, the many people present were able to contact closely with Rui Vieira de Castro, rector of UMinho, "a unique experience in the Portuguese context and probably in the European context."Among the projects for the future of autonomous driving that "proved that universities can be active partners and make decisive contributions" were solutions such as an autonomous parking system and communication between cars.



Anticipating the challenge that autonomous driving will bring to the Human Machine Interface (HMI) and assuming the car as the third place where people spend the most time (apart from home and workplace) has been revealed as the future, a space of interactivity and connectivity, inside and outside the vehicle, that will allow to free the driver for other tasks. This all with a fully established trust base.But because the human factor will always be present, with vicissitudes that are characteristic of physical fatigue, the future will also be able to monitor if the driver is able to drive or if he is too sleepy or distracted through an installed monitoring camera, in the instrument panel.The occupants were also included in the solutions developed by the partners UMinho-Bosch, with the extraction of the position of the occupants to be the basis for the knowledge of their movements and actions in the context of assisted and autonomous driving.Rui Martins, responsible for Innovation and TUBconsulting of Urban Transport of Braga (TUB), told SAPO about technology being applied to buses 43 and 2 of the TUB and that allow "to be not only reactionary but also proactive".Through cloud applications for smart cars, you can collect various information that allows you to "improve routes, schedules and line optimization based on reasoned data", as well as reduce costs and, consequently, unnecessary expenses.In an iFactory strand, solutions have been developed such as the stand-alone milk-run system that allows optimizing processes within the various production lines, as well as automated and intelligent eRobots.




In addition to being safe and reliable, the car of the future should be quiet, so reducing noise is an essential condition for achieving that reality. In this sense, the active noise cancellation solution reduces the noise coming from the engine and the vibrations generated in the wheel contact with the road.But all this is only possible through sensors and chambers, essential components for autonomous driving, since the vehicle must be able to read what is around them and act in a preventive manner.An example of this is the vehicle positioning and movement sensor, which significantly improves vehicle location accuracy through the use of various satellite navigation systems, including GPS and Galileo, inertial sensors and fusion algorithms.According to Carlos Ribas, Bosch representative in Portugal, "Bosch and UMinho are not doing research and development to stay in the drawer" the third phase of the partnership between the two entities is already underway.
Divided into three strands, the phase that runs from 2018 to 2021, is oriented "a lot for the area of sensors and autonomous driving," explains the technical administrator of Bosch in Braga.
The investment of 108 million euros foresees the development of projects of high complexity and, for Bosch, "will definitively consolidate Portugal as a reference country in attracting quality foreign investment".



Sapo