New Bosch technology could save motorists nearly £600 a year in fuel

• Average motorist wastes £1 every journey looking for a parking space
• New Bosch technology allows cars to immediately find their own parking space
• Vehicles will soon be able to to park themselves with no driver input, reducing UK accidents by nearly 14,000

UK motorists could save up to £600 per year at the fuel pump thanks to new parking technology developed by Bosch. New cars will soon be able to find parking spaces by themselves, saving drivers the need to drive around looking for them. Searching for a parking space once arrived at their destination currently causes motorists to waste £1 in fuel each journey. At its Connected Parking roundtable in Stuttgart last week, Bosch also showed how new cars will be able to park themselves with no driver input.

Connected parking saves motorists £600 in fuel

According to figures from the Department for Transport (DfT)* the average motorist makes 590 car journeys each year. Bosch research suggests that, typically, motorists drive an extra 2.8 miles every journey looking for a parking space, wasting around £1 worth of fuel each time and giving out unnecessary emissions. Bosch has developed a number of new technologies that will make this a thing of the past.

Automated valet parking allows the vehicle to search for a parking space in a nearby car park and park itself. The driver simply drops off their vehicle at the entrance of a car park then, using a smartphone app, instructs the car to find itself a place to park. When they are ready to leave, the driver simply instructs the car to return to the drop off point.

When drivers need to have a little more input, they can use Active Parking Lot Management, which uses sensors fitted to the pavement to tell the car’s navigation where there are free spaces. Bosch is already trialling this system at 15 park and ride facilities in Stuttgart.  Similarly, Community-based parking helps drivers to find on-street parking in built up areas. Cars use sensors to identify parking spaces as they drive along and send this information to other cars via Bosch’s cloud – this means that all cars fitted with the system know where spaces are in their local area.

Make parking safer and less stressful

Parking and reversing accounted for 13,723 accidents in the UK in 2014, according to DfT figures**, while many find it the most stressful element of driving. New technology by Bosch removes this risk by letting the car park itself.

With the Remote Park Assist, vehicles park themselves with the driver only needing to press a button on the ignition key or smartphone. Meanwhile, Home Zone Park Assist can learn regular manoeuvres, such as parking on the drive, after just one dummy run by the driver. This means that the driver does not even need to be in the car while the vehicle parks itself.

To make parking safer, Manoeuvre Emergency Braking warns the driver if there is the risk of a collision when parking. If the driver fails to react, the system will intervene to stop the car. Rear Cross-traffic Alert uses radar to detect vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians within 50 metres of the car when it is reversing. It can then warn the driver if there is a risk of collision.

* DfT 2014 National Travel Survey

** DfT road safety statistics: Vehicles involved in reported accidents by vehicle type and manoeuvre, Great Britain, 2014 (RAS20008)

Contact person for press inquiries:

Rianne Ojeh, 01895 83 8822, rianne.ojeh@uk.bosch.com

Mobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. According to preliminary figures, its 2015 sales came to 41.7 billion euros, or 60 percent of total group sales. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector combines the group’s expertise in three mobility domains – automation, electrification, and connectivity – and offers its customers integrated mobility solutions. Its main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 375,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2015). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of more than 70 billion euros in 2015. 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 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing and sales network covers some 150 countries. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. Bosch employs 55,800
associates in research and development at roughly 115 locations across the globe. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.”

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.co.uk, www.bosch-press.com, twitter.com/BoschUK