Suppliers go further with mobility at CES 2019

Vehicle supplier ZF has announced the first customer of its autonomous electric capsule project in partnership with e.GO.

The German company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that it has reached an agreement with Transdev, an operator and global integrator of mobility solutions. The business will come in as a partner on the project, helping to develop an operating platform.

The e.GO Moove GmbH joint venture is providing the e.GO Mover, a fully electric, connected and automated shuttle. ZF is equipping this people mover with electric drive systems, steering systems and brakes as well as ZF’s ProAI central computer (using artificial intelligence) and sensors which enable automated driving functions. Transdev, through its global Autonomous Transport System (ATS by Transdev), will provide its supervision system, connected infrastructure and client application. The partners’ integrated solution will offer the market’s best quality of service and overall passenger experience while ensuring the safety of passengers, which remains the priority of both partners.

The partners will start working together immediately to provide a fully functional solution by 2020, with priority markets in France and Germany.

′Automation, electrification and networking are critical enablers as the transport of people and goods continually increase in urban centres. With our extensive systems competence, ZF is enabling and shaping next-generation mobility,’ says Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG. ′Urban mobility choices like ride-hailing are one of the biggest drivers behind the development of autonomous driving.’

Transdev provides 11 million passenger trips per day in 20 countries and is committed to leading the way in mobility services by using fleets of shared autonomous vehicles.

Meanwhile, Bosch is using the event in Las Vegas to show ′what it is capable of today’ as the business moves to the connected world and the internet of things (IoT)

′Bosch recognised the huge opportunities of the IoT early on. We have been actively shaping the connected world for nearly ten years now,’ says the Bosch board of management member Markus Heyn. ′Today, we are a leading IoT company. Step by step, we have extended our software and IT expertise.’ Using its own IoT cloud, the company has already carried out more than 270 projects in the field such as mobility, smart homes, smart cities, and agriculture. The number of sensors and devices connected over the Bosch IoT Suite has risen nearly 40% since last year and now stands at 8.5 million.

To highlight the point further, the supplier is showcasing a Bosch-built self-driving shuttle vehicle concept at the trade show. In this vehicle, the company is its presenting solutions for the automation, connectivity, and electrification of vehicles, and is giving visitors the chance to experience at first hand a new kind of mobility: driverless shuttles, which will soon be a feature on the streets of the world’s cities. ′This will pay into our vision of mobility that is as emissions-free, accident-free, and stress-free as possible,’ Heyn says. For shuttle-based mobility such as this, Bosch will be supplying not only components and systems, but also a complete range of mobility services, such as reservation, sharing, and connectivity platforms, as well as parking and recharging services. Bosch believes that such connected services are essential for the shuttle-based mobility of the future.