MOMENTUM - September 2022 - 34
TODAY'S
ENGINEERING
BOSCH TUNES ITS BUSINESS TO
FACE MOBILITY'S CHALLENGES
COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS that make up the heart of
combustion-engine powertrains have long reigned as a major
profit center for Bosch, and the company's commitment to
sustaining the ICE for as long as OEMs require is not vanishing.
But as the industry swings toward electrified, automated, and
connected vehicles, new mobility solutions are needed. To help
meet the current and future transit needs of customers, Bosch
is investing $420 million in its North American mobility
business unit.
SAE member Paul Thomas, Executive Vice President of
Mobility Solutions for Bosch in the Americas, recently spoke
with SAE Media.
WHAT IS CURRENTLY THE INDUSTRY'S MAIN MOBILITY
CHALLENGE?
The industry's near-term challenge is a scarcity of talent and a
lack of stability relating to supply and demand. Over the next
few years, that talent shortage will need to support both ICEpowered
vehicles and electrified vehicles, the latter requiring
infrastructure and investments to support increased
production.
HOW IS BOSCH POSITIONED TO HELP PROVIDE SOLUTIONS?
In the near term, we're trying to find fast solutions to increase
supply. For the future, we're continuing to invest in our core
products that exist today - ICE components, braking and
steering systems, thermal management - and using those
core business investments as a leverage to achieve new
mobility solutions.
AMONG THE MOBILITY SECTORS, WHICH IS TAKING AN R&D
PRIORITY AT BOSCH?
We've spent roughly half a billion dollars per year on
electrification since 2016. We offer multiple options related to
the electrical powertrain, including advanced steering and
braking, charging solutions, cloud services, and thermal
management. Intelligent thermal management alone can
increase the driving range of an electric vehicle by as much as
25%. Electric-vehicle thermal management products, like our
flexible thermal unit, are important, as the global market for
this business is projected to reach $4 billion by decade's end.
We're also starting to increase our expenditures on the
automated and connectivity side of the business. Bottom line:
We will stay invested in all the PACE (powertrain, automated,
connected, electrified) areas.
HOW DOES BOSCH NORTH AMERICA DEFINE MOBILITY?
Mobility is no longer just about moving people. It's also about
moving goods and forming partnerships. For instance, our
partnership with Amazon Web Services is focused on
34 September 2022
Executive VP of mobility solutions Paul Thomas has been an SAE member
for nine years.
developing a software-enabled logistics platform for the
supply chain to help manage mobility. That product's launch is
expected in late 2022. Anything that we can do to help
improve the movement of people and goods, and complement
that with associated services, is our mobility goal.
HOW CAN COLLABORATION HELP PROPEL MOBILITY R&D?
Bringing partners together with different backgrounds and
different wants can be very beneficial. As one example, the
Detroit Smart Parking Lab (DSPL) was founded by a real estate
developer (Bedrock), a tier one supplier (Bosch), a global OEM
(Ford), and a government agency (State of Michigan).
Operated by the American Center for Mobility, the DSPL
promotes a collaborative environment to test emerging
technologies. All of the work being done is happening inside a
parking garage.
On a recent project, each party had different views of what
a first- and last-mile solution would look like. For that R&D
project, we arrived at a solution that met the requirements of a
diverse group of partners. The DSPL has different ongoing
collaborative projects involving various companies, including
startups, that focus on electrification, automation, and
connectivity. Collaboration can propel R&D by meeting the
expectations of multiple partners versus an R&D project that's
done separately. n
This article is derived from one written for MOMENTUM
sister publication Automotive Engineering by Kami Buchholz, a
contributor and Detroit Editor for that magazine.
MOMENTUM
Bosch
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