Bosch announced on June 26th the opening of “Bosch Vision Tec”, a new R&D center specialized in automated and connected vehicles in Sophia Antipolis.
We believe Sophia Antipolis stands out as the very best location to establish a worldwide competence center in image signal processing (ISP) ahead of Silicon Valley »
M. Guy Maugis, President BOSCH FRANCE
Connected vehicles, a market in full swing
New technologies and semiconductors are at the heart of research in the field of automated vehicles. In fact, automating a vehicle’s reactions involves the elaboration of increasingly complex systems with a heightened level of demand that permits the satisfaction of safety requirements. “Particular care will be put into the design of the system architecture, components, materials, and software necessary for the implementation of these solutions”, explains Frédéric Dosière, director of the future center of research & development, « the detection of pedestrians and objects, the recognition of traffic signs and signals, and emergency braking are among the themes being explored by the center’s engineers, who work notably on the improvement of a stereo camera system, enabling the emergency braking system installed as standard on the Land Rover Discovery Sport ».
© Robert Bosch GmbH 2015
Bosch in Sophia Antipolis
The principal activity of the Bosch R&D center will be the development of driving-assistance systems. “The principal challenge of automated vehicles lies in making it autonomous of its driver and making the correct decisions in the driver’s place. As such, Bosch is working on the conception of a camera and systems that will continuously calculate in real time the actions and reactions required in order to respond to every situation it encounters during different driving situations”, declared Pierre Maillot, director of business development for Bosch France.
The Bosch Vision Tec center, working globally, plans to bring differentiated, high-value-added solutions in the field of automobile construction regarding design plans, components, and calculating power. Team Cote d’Azur facilitated this implantation project from the start, in prospection, the research of locations, and the engineering of incentives. Some thirty engineers will be integrated between now and the end of the year on the Sophia Antipolis site, which will officially open its doors In October, 2015.
The wealth of the ecosystem was the decisive element in choosing Sophia Antipolis, as was stated by Guy Maugis, President of Bosch France. “Sophia Antipolis represents a more than favorable ecosystem for research and development in the field of electronics. I am proud to announce that it is here, in France, that we have easily found all of the skills necessary to carry out our research into electronic assistance systems related to the automated vehicle program.”
A connected-vehicle industry developing rapidly on the Cote d’Azur.
Capitalizing on the strong expertise of Sophia Antipolis in the fields of Internet of Things (IoT), embedded electronics and software, wireless and security technology, and 3D imaging, as well as in the e-mobility boom in Nice and the Cote d’Azur at large, the connected-vehicle industry is currently developing at the highest level on the Cote d’Azur.
Bosch will therefore be able to count on local – but nonetheless internationally renowned – partners to help guide its R&D activities: Huawei and Scaleo Chip for their expertise in imagery, Eurecom and Inria for the analysis of visual systems, ETSI for applied telecommunication standards, Cadence, Synergie CAD and ARM for semi-conductors, and other leaders in the automobile sector such as Toyota, Magneti Marelli, and BMW, who are already present on the Cote d’Azur, as well as Hitachi, Visteon, Altran Praxis, M2MSolution, and Myxyty.
Bosch is also a partner of the city of Nice, since June 2014, in the smart management of vehicles and buildings. The metropolis, which has made itself a pioneer in the field of smart city and eco-technologies, plans to develop on its soil a number of experiences and innovations of interest to the connected-vehicle industry: Govecs/Newteon and Eccity Motors electric scooters, energy management of BMWs solar carport with Beegy, Advansolar solar recharging infrastructure, car-sharing with Vulog, the Elocar connected garage, and the WATT electric bus and unlimited autonomy system for the airport.
About Bosch
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. The company employs roughly 360,000 associates worldwide (as per April 1, 2015), and generated sales of 49 billion euros in 2014.* Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including its sales and service partners, Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries.
The Bosch Group is present in France since 1899 with the opening of its first representative office. It is also in Paris, in 1905, Bosch installs the first plant outside of Germany. With 24 plants and 10 for Research & Development, all activities of the Group are represented in France. The Group achieved in 2014, with a staff of 6000 people, a turnover of € 2.2 billion in the country.
