Bosch to showcase future of connected mobility at CES 2017

German component and technology services supplier Bosch will present its innovation-laden concept car with technology that makes it seem more of a personal assistant.

Alongside home and work, connectivity is turning the car into the third living space. With the help of personalised communication between the car and the driver, increasingly high performance and comprehensive services will be safe to operate in the future as well. In addition, automated driving will soon give drivers more time to dedicate to other tasks. For instance, drivers and passengers will be able to use time spent in the car to write emails, or entertain themselves with streamed music or videos.

In the new concept car, Bosch will be presenting a broad range of innovations, including:

Face recognition and intelligent personalisation: The Driver Monitor Camera makes quick face recognition and personalisation possible from the moment the driver is in the car. For instance, the car sets the steering wheel, mirrors, interior temperature, and radio station according to the driver’s personal preferences. While on the move, driver drowsiness detection helps enhance safety: if the driver risks falling asleep or is very distracted, the car issues a warning and helps prevent critical situations.

Gesture control with Ultra Haptics: The concept car also includes the first-ever gesture control with haptic feedback. Developed with Ultra Haptics, a start-up from Bristol in the UK, the technology uses ultrasound sensors that sense whether the driver’s hand is in the correct place, and then provides feedback on the gesture being executed.

Haptic feedback with neoSense: Thanks to the touchscreen with haptic feedback, the buttons that appear on the touchscreen feel like real buttons. In many instances, this makes it possible to operate the infotainment system without looking. Drivers can thus keep their eyes on the road, and this improves safety. This technology bagged a CES Innovation Award in 2016 and has since taken major strides toward series production.

A crystal-clear OLED-driven display: With the concept vehicle, OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays have been integrated into the car’s cockpit for the first time. These enable a crystal-clear display.

Digital exterior mirrors, now also in the car: The Mirror Cam System is a camera-based solution that replaces both exterior mirrors. The video sensors can be integrated into the vehicle interior, and images are shown on displays close to the A-pillars on the right and left sides of the car. Moreover, the digital technology enables a context-specific display. When a car is on the highway, for instance, the view is concentrated mainly behind the car. In contrast, in city driving, a broader view helps improve safety. Good contrast improves the view when driving at night.

Communication between the car and the driver: In the future, the human machine interface (HMI) will play an increasingly important role in the car – especially when it comes to automated driving. For instance, it lets the driver know whether automated driving is possible on a specific route. To hand over responsibility for driving to the car, the driver must then press two buttons on the steering wheel for several seconds. During the automated drive, the HMI shows the driver what the car’s environmental sensors detect and how much time is left until the driver needs to start driving again.

Communication between the car and the home: With automated driving, drivers have a greater number of infotainment functions at their disposal via the vehicle’s central display than when they are driving themselves. Thanks to the internet connection, drivers can now review upcoming appointments or plan shopping trips, for instance. The smart home app also makes it possible for drivers to operate the awnings or adjust the heating at home. Furthermore, they can check whether there is enough food in the refrigerator and, at the touch of a button, the app can transmit the shopping list to the delivery service.

Communication between the car and the bicycle: Thanks to vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the cars of the future will be informed of other road users long before they are in view. Bicycles in particular are easily overlooked in road traffic because they are hidden by buses or trucks. At CES, Bosch is showing a communication link between the new concept car and a bicycle. With it, vehicles can constantly exchange information about their location and direction of travel. This reduces the risk of collision.

Bosch Integrated Payment Solutions: Bosch has developed an ePayment solution which offers new services via the IoT ecosystem, including a standardised payment function. To enable this, the required agreements have already been signed with many payment systems, including PayPal.

Communication between the car and the workshop: At CES 2017, Bosch is also showing how the connected workshop works in the interplay with web-based services and augmented reality applications. In the future, drivers and workshop operators will be able to plan visits to the workshop more easily, and this will improve work processes when it comes to service.

Retrofittable emergency call service for the car: Bosch will present the Retrofit eCall at CES; it is a retrofittable adapter for the eCall emergency call service. It can easily be placed directly into the cigarette lighter and offers real benefits; an acceleration sensor detects a collision and triggers an emergency call and details such as the car’s position are transmitted via a smartphone app. The severity of the impact is also analysed, and corresponding measures are automatically initiated. If the collision is only of moderate severity, the control centre calls to speak to the driver directly and determine whether a service vehicle or ambulance is required. If the driver fails to answer, an ambulance is alerted immediately.

Firmware updates ‘over the air’ (FOTA): Connected functions, and especially highly automated driving, call for consistently reliable functioning throughout the vehicle’s entire life cycle. This requires software updates that can be carried out via the cloud. Bosch offers the appropriate communication control units and the central gateway computer, while ETAS and ESCRYPT (both parts of the Bosch Group) provide the necessary transmission and encryption technologies. These ensure functional safety and data security.

Perfectly keyless vehicle access system: With an encrypted digital key on the phone, the vehicle can be entered and started without any interaction. When approaching the vehicle, Perfectly keyless will automatically identify the secret key on the phone and perform a distance measurement. Within a specified range to the car, access is allowed. In a similar way, starting of the car is only permitted if Perfectly keyless localises the mobile device inside the car. By using a digital key on the user’s mobile device, Perfectly keyless improves personalised car settings and simplifies sharing of car keys with family and friends.