More and more intelligent solutions focused on connecting the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve people’s lives from home to travel, from work to hospitals and even in space. These are the ones that Bosch is working on, which – as explained by Tanja Rückert, the Group’s Chief Digital Officer, at CES in Las Vegas – “is systematically digitizing its core business to increase customer benefits. In the future, we aim to transform revenues of each digital product including the revenues derived from the services “.
Starting this year, all electronic products will be connected to the network. Sales of power tools, household appliances and connected heating systems grew by approximately 50% in one year, from four million units in 2020 to over six million in 2021. And the benefits to the group’s result already amount to 300 million euros. from the new Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI).
The company invests over four billion euros each year in software skills, of which about three billion are destined for the automotive sector. To shape the future of software-defined mobility, Bosch will consolidate its vehicle software development activities in its sister company ETAS from mid-2022. In the future, the latter will develop and sell basic vehicle software, middleware, cloud services and development tools for universal applications. In addition, Bosch is rapidly advancing in connected and autonomous driving. Over the past five years, the company has generated around nine billion euros in sales from driver assistance systems and associated sensors alone.
But an example of the benefits of artificial intelligence and connectivity is the SoundSee sensor system that has been operational since late 2019 on the ISS (the International Space Station). Using artificial intelligence, Bosch technology analyzes audio data to detect potential anomalies and locate areas that require maintenance.
And now, in partnership with Pittsburgh-based non-profit healthcare company Highmark, Bosch is pursuing a new application of this technology: investigating how audio artificial intelligence can be used as a diagnostic tool in pediatric medicine. Specifically, Bosch and Highmark are working to adapt the sensors to allow them to detect lung conditions such as asthma at an early age simply by listening to and evaluating children’s breathing patterns.
From hearing to smell: Bosch also presented the new gas sensor, the first on the market with artificial intelligence, which serves to protect both man and nature. Dryad’s Silvanet Wildfire Sensor is essentially a digital nose that helps detect forest fires in the early stages. Dryad’s sensors are positioned on trees where they continuously monitor the microclimate to detect incipient fires and wirelessly alert local authorities long before systems based on cameras or satellites. Not only can this protect nature from devastation, it can also reduce global carbon emissions from forest fires.