As a part of its recent partnership to develop autonomous driving tech, Bosch, along with Daimler will start trials of an on-demand self-driving car service next year.
But that isn't what amused us. The German supplier giant has kept us on our toes by teasing a few images and details of what's about to be presented at the 2019 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. Bosch says that the 'electric shuttle' service that will be showcased in Las Vegas would be an opening statement of the company's plans not only in autonomous driving but also in a range of other integrated services.
Examples of the new service include the ability to book vehicles, pay for a ride, or share a self-driving car with other riders. From the images, we can see that the shuttle would be a rather luxurious and futuristic four-seated that comes with additional features such as Wi-Fi and an advanced camera monitoring system. This system, as Bosch says, can detect if something has been left behind and alert the passenger as they exit the vehicle.
Apart from that, the vehicle will also have predictive diagnostics that would ensure that the shuttle is in top shape. For instance, the map data will always be accurate due to the sensors installed in the vehicle. The shuttle will also notify a maintenance crew, surprisingly, before the fault actually occurs.
We are polarised on the fact that Bosch is actually aiming to have a self-driving system of Level 4 and even Level 5, ready for production by the beginning of next decade. A Level 4 autonomous driving system in layman's terms can handle all driving situations under certain limits. Meanwhile, a Level 5 can more-or-less do anything that a human driver can do.
Bosch has developed a universal connectivity unit for all Wi-Fi-based and wireless-based transmission technologies used in vehicle-to-object (V2X) communication. This enables vehicles to communicate with each other and with traffic infrastructure, regardless of the country or manufacturer.