Unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas, the technology guides electric vehicles driverlessly to an unoccupied parking space furnished with a charge spot, where a charging robot opens the charging flap, inserts the cable, and removes it once the vehicle battery is fully charged. Once recharging is complete, the vehicle manoeuvrers driverlessly to another parking space, freeing up the charge spot for the next electric vehicle with a low battery.
According to Bosch, this makes it possible for several vehicles to be recharged and parked without human interaction: increasing the efficiency of the charging infrastructure, optimising the use of charge spots, and saving customers time.
Bosch and Cariad - an automotive specialist owned by VW - are testing the technology in two in-house parking garages in Germany: Cariad’s staff parking garage in Ingolstadt, and Bosch’s development parking garage in Ludwigsburg.
Bosch hopes that the technology could ultimately address consumer concerns over charging, making the process more convenient and efficient. “Making it straightforward to recharge electric vehicles allays people’s misgivings about range, and is essential if electromobility is to find widespread acceptance,” said Manuel Maier, vice president of the cross-domain Level 4 parking product area at Bosch.
Rolf Dubitzky, head of parking at Cariad, added: “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.”
Automated valet parking - the world’s first driverless SAE Level 4 parking service - and has been in operation at Stuttgart airport since 2022. Bosch has also started to equip other parking garages throughout Germany with the infrastructure technology.
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