Bosch is pursuing the next generation of automated driving functions through a collaboration with Microsoft to leverage the power of generative AI (artificial intelligence), the automotive mega-supplier announced today at its Bosch Connected World AIoT industry conference in Berlin.

“Bosch is working on bringing a new dimension of AI applications into the vehicle,” said Dr. Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the Bosch Board of Management.

The expectation is that generative AI will enable vehicles to assess situations and react accordingly. Greater safety on the roads is the wish of 60% of respondents to this year’s Bosch Tech Compass, a global Bosch survey on the subjects of technology and AI. The partners would like to see generative AI help enhance vehicle convenience and provide greater safety for all road users.

“In our unwavering commitment to safer roads, Microsoft is eager to explore collaboration opportunities with Bosch to pioneer the realm of generative AI,” said Uli Homann, Microsoft CVP and Distinguished Architect.

The two companies have already partnered to develop a universal software platform for connecting cars and the cloud.

Today’s driver assistance systems can detect people, animals, objects, and vehicles, but when it comes to training systems for automated driving, AI quickly comes up against its limits.

Generative AI would use vast amounts of data to train systems for automated driving, enabling them to draw improved conclusions. For example, it could deduce whether an object on the road ahead is a plastic bag or a damaged vehicle part. This information could be used to either communicate directly with the driver, such as by displaying a warning, or to initiate appropriate driving maneuvers, such as braking while switching on the hazard warning lights.

“Generative AI is a boost to innovation,” said Dr. Tanja Rueckert, Member of the Bosch Board of Management and Chief Digital Officer. “It can transform industry in much the same way as the invention of the computer.”

The 2024 Bosch Tech Compass survey backs this thinking, with 64% of respondents believing that AI is the technology with the greatest importance for the future. Only 41% of respondents agreed just one year ago.

Generative AI is already being used in many areas at Bosch, from manufacturing to everyday office work. In addition to Microsoft, the company is working with several partners including AWS and Google. Bosch Ventures also invested in the AI company Aleph Alpha last year and Bosch announced it would collaborate with the startup on finding new use cases both for Bosch associates and customers.

“Bosch and Aleph Alpha want to learn from each other, benefit from each other’s know-how, and work together on cross-domain use cases,” said Rueckert.

This partnership is now bearing its first fruits in North America. In collaboration with Aleph Alpha, Bosch is debuting AI-based speech recognition for a premium car manufacturer. In this solution, a chatbot understands and answers breakdown service calls with the help of natural language processing, which also recognizes dialects, accents, and moods.

The call is taken directly, reducing the driver’s waiting time to a minimum. As many as 40% of calls can be processed and resolved automatically. For more complex queries, the bot transmits all relevant information to a service center agent who takes over the case immediately.

AI experts at Bosch are currently working on over 120 specific applications that new AI models open up for the company’s associates and customers. Such applications include the generation of software program code or powerful chatbots and voicebots, like the Aleph Alpha example, to support technicians or interact with consumers.

Another application is AskBosch, the in-house AI-assisted search engine launched at the end of 2023. It offers faster natural-language access to a variety of data. In addition to externally available data, the application also includes internal data sources, so Bosch associates can research information specific to the company.

Generative AI also ensures greater speed in manufacturing. In initial projects in two Bosch plants in Germany, generative AI creates synthetic images to develop and scale AI solutions for optical inspection and optimize existing AI models. Bosch expects that this will reduce the time needed for planning, launching, and ramping AI applications from the current 6-12 months to just a few weeks.

Bosch says that AI is becoming increasingly important in professional development, a belief held by 58% of Tech Compass respondents; this thinking is particularly prevalent in the U.S. at 63%, with Germany at 54% and China at 52%.

The supplier is getting its associates on board. In 2019, it launched a training program, with about 28,000 associates have taken part. Like the Bosch AI code of ethics, this program has been supplemented with content about generative AI.