" Automation plays a key role in the mobility revolution and the transition to electromobility. Our two services – automated valet parking and automated valet charging – make the mobility experience much smoother for users " says Manuel Maier, vice president of the cross-domain Level 4 parking product area at Bosch.
"Making it straightforward to recharge electric vehicles allays people’s misgivings about range, and is essential if electromobility is to find widespread acceptance. With this in mind, Bosch and Cariad can make parking and charging even more efficient and convenient."
Rolf Dubitzky, head of parking at Cariad, also sees great potential in this collaboration: "We’re particularly pleased to be shaping the future of automated parking and charging together with Bosch. Our collaboration allows us to test the technologies at an early stage of vehicle development, so that the end product is reliable and offers customers the best possible user experience."
Charging service: the automated route to even more convenience
The infrastructure guides the vehicle to the parking space, where a robot opens the charging flap and automatically inserts the charging cable, removing it again once the vehicle battery is fully charged. The car then drives back to a regular parking space, freeing up the charge spot for the next electric vehicle with a low battery. All this makes it possible for several vehicles to be recharged and parked without human interaction. This increases the efficiency of the charging infrastructure, optimizes the use of charge spots, and saves customers the bother of long waits at the charge spot.
Automated valet parking is the world’s first driverless SAE Level 4 parking service, and has been in operation in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport for about a year now. Bosch has also started to equip other parking garages throughout Germany with the infrastructure technology.
