For automotive connectivity, Bosch’s real focus on "cloud services."

Compared with autonomous driving, Bosch's deployment on the “interconnected” strategy has received less attention. Although the internet products will be launched earlier on the ground, the traditional suppliers will be difficult to highlight the speed of products and updates, because of the influx of a large number of Internet companies.

However, in this year's Bosch smart travel experience day,Car Cloud is relatively comprehensive to see Bosch's intention in the Internet.

Where is the“interconnect” of cars? 

To say that the Internet is the first Bosch to think of by the car cloud, it is actually Industry 4.0. At present, all the factories under Bosch are undergoing the transformation of Industry 4.0 or new construction according to the standards of Industry 4.0, and are also exporting the solution of Industry 4.0. One of the biggest sources of gas comes from Bosch's accumulation of sensors. Relatively speaking, software capabilities have become a constraint. Therefore, the ability to strengthen software development has also been put on the agenda early.

The Bosch Internet strategy can basically be seen as a simultaneous development with Industry 4.0. A clear indication of the outside world is that Bosch has hosted Bosch Connected World (BCW) since 2014, an industry conference on the subject of the Internet. 

In the car, Bosch's interconnections are more varied.

One of the earliest solutions was called mySPIN. Bosch has been developing mySPIN since 2013, a mobile internet solution. 

In 2014, Google and Apple launched CarPlay and Android Auto, bringing the popularity of mobile phone connectivity to the highest point. In the next two years of CES and even important auto shows such as Frankfurt, one of the fun of the industry is that several car companies have expressed their support for the two-year mobile phone interconnection. Domestic Internet companies have not fallen behind for a long time. Baidu launched CarLife, and Tencent has followed suit. It is also a group of related startups that provide solutions. Compared to CarPlay (Google service, non-existent), because local support is better and more popular.

But in fact, the parts suppliers basically have MirrorLink products launched in the same period, and Bosch which insists on its own research and development communication protocol, it’s an alternative. Bosch began to show its mySPIN solution in 2015. At the Shanghai Auto Show of the year, it also announced cooperation with 24 apps, and it will land in three car companies in the future. Two years ago, Bosch Technology Experience Day, mySPIN is also the highlight of Bosch Internet products. A Jaguar stops at the most prominent place at the gate, making it easy for guests to experience.

In the past two years, the attention of mobile Internet has dropped a lot, because it has changed from a relatively new thing to a normal one. Few suppliers have specifically promoted new customers, but from the point of view of mass production models, the number of vehicles with mobile phone connectivity is indeed increasing. However, as a traditional supplier's product, the disadvantage of mySPIN is that it does not have a logo display on the interface like CarPlay. 

In 2014, we made a summary of Bosch's interconnected products at that time ("Automotive interconnection, see how Bosch plays"). At that time, the service coverage was already extensive, including fleet management, maintenance services, and electric vehicle operation projects. Bosch's presence at CES is relatively weak every year, but since 2015, the focus every year has been on interconnection. Sensors, home, automotive, and intelligent transportation solutions are all experiencing the term interconnection.

On this year's experience day, the car cloud also asked Bolf's car and intelligent transportation technology business unit chairman Rolf Bulander's current progress on mySPIN, Bulander said that mySPIN's advancement in production cars is in progress, but Bosch in the car There is already a bigger plan for the interconnection plan.

What is this plan?

Of course, cloud service

If you look at Bosch's smart travel experience day this year, in the car, Bosch's interconnection is reflected in three aspects: 

1.Automatic driving

The interaction of data in autonomous driving is very important. Even without mentioning V2X technology, Bosch's new Radar Road Signature relies on interconnect technology, as explained in the previous autopilot article.

2.Vehicle Information Service System

The concept cockpit that Bosch will present at this year's CES will also be brought to the experience day. The concept cockpit is equipped with face recognition technology and personalized settings based on face recognition.

As for in-vehicle information services, the scope is very large and to give two examples. One is that the community parking is to detect whether the parking space on the roadside is free through the sensor on the vehicle. When there is a free parking space, the information will be transmitted to the electronic map of the parking space in the cloud for updating. All owners who access the system can search and navigate on the electronic map.

Another is the maintenance service. In addition to the interconnection between the car and the smart home, Bosch proposes that the car and the repair station are interconnected to share the state of the vehicle, and the repair station can also know the state of the vehicle in time to facilitate the appointment and processing of the repair.

Of course, there are also OTA technologies and cloud service solutions for information security.

3.Sharing travel

At present, Bosch's shared travel service is based on the electric mini eSoccter, which was launched in Berlin last year and was subsequently launched in Paris. It is not clear whether the future sharing of travel will be pushed to electric vehicles.

All of these services depend on Bosch's Automotive Cloud Suite. At this year's BCW, Bosch introduced this platform, which is a software platform for smart travel, and also the focus of Bosch Internet mentioned by Bulander - cloud services.

Bosch Automotive Cloud Suite

It is also very understandable that cloud services have become the focus of Bosch.

From a technical point of view, the general trend.

There is no need to mention the Internet of Vehicles and OTA. Autopilot and electrification technologies are also inseparable from cloud services. From the current point of view, Bosch's radar map on autopilot is dependent on cloud services, and after the foundation of cloud services, Bosch naturally has more room to play on V2X. As for electrification, the management of the charging network and the power system is the same.

From a business perspective, the software business will become a new profit point for traditional suppliers. The transition to service, although preferred by automakers, has actually occurred earlier among suppliers. For example, Honeywell has suggested that 60% of the business growth of the future group will come from software. Moreover, in this transformation, automotive suppliers have their own advantages.

The root of the interconnection lines in the real-time collection, processing, and transmission of data. In the collection of data, Bosch has its own advantages - sensor technology and its application scale. This is hard to come by Internet companies, which is why the term "entry" has been hailed by Internet companies for a long time. Another advantage is that, in theory, traditional suppliers understand more about the consumer's need for services in the car. Of course, this depends on the transformation of product thinking, which has emerged under the “invasion” of Internet companies.

One of the most important aspects of implementing cloud services is the construction of cloud platforms. According to Bulander, Bosch has established cloud platforms in Germany and the United States. As one of the important markets in China, Bosch also hopes to build a cloud platform. However, due to relevant laws and regulations, Bosch is still entangled in the program.

Car cloud summary

Not just Bosch. If you carefully observe the changes in the products and strategies of traditional parts suppliers over the past two years, it is easy to find that cloud services have become a must for Tier 1 suppliers such as Bosch and China.

The road to service transformation of suppliers is inevitable.