To keep pace with the ever-changing landscape of sustainable and automated mobility, Bosch announced it will work with Microsoft to build a new cloud-based platform designed to simplify and accelerate vehicle software development and deployment.
The new platform will be based on Microsoft’s Azure offering and will incorporate software modules from Bosch. Both companies intend to make the new software platform available for testing in vehicle prototypes by the end of 2021.
“Bosch already securely updates car software over the air today,” said Dr. Markus Heyn, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH. “With the comprehensive platform for software-defined cars, we want to further empower automakers to develop new functions and get them on the road faster.”
“Our collaboration with Bosch brings together the expertise of one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers with the power of the Microsoft cloud, AI, and GitHub,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Cloud + AI, Microsoft. “With software quickly becoming a key differentiator in the automotive industry, our ambition is to help businesses accelerate the delivery of unique mobility services across passenger cars and commercial fleets at scale.”
As Guthrie pointed out, software will continue to play an increasingly vital role in future vehicle development. Electromobility, automated/autonomous driving, and connected mobility services will depend on the software and require frequent updates to that software. But over-the-air updates and vehicle service can be hindered by safety requirements, model differences, and environmental factors.
Bosch said its deep understanding of electrical and electronic architectures, control units, and vehicle computers, which is necessary for over-the-air vehicle updates, will empower its new collaboration with Microsoft to develop solutions to those challenges.
“Having a comprehensive software platform from the vehicle to the cloud will reduce the complexity of software development and vehicle system integration,” said Heyn. “In this way, we will create the conditions for wireless updates to work just as smoothly and conveniently in vehicles as they do in smartphones.”
Bosch and Microsoft will also work together to adapt existing software developer tools, enabling OEMs and suppliers to simplify and accelerate their own software updates.
The announcement comes a week after Volkswagen announced a similar partnership with Microsoft to expand its automated-driving software development capabilities with Azure.
While Bosch is developing vehicle software, the company is already taking that effort to the next level. During January’s CES 2021, it announced it had joined forces with Astrobotic and WiBotic, as well as the University of Washington, to research and develop technology to intelligently navigate and wirelessly charge small robots for operation on the moon.
Bosch said its researchers are working on the project in Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley and are collaborating on AI-based intelligent data analysis and wireless connectivity solutions. The company said the results of that research will contribute to further development of AIoT (artificial intelligence of things) solutions back on Earth.
