Bosch Australia President: Autonomous driving next major advancement in road safety

The President of Bosch Australia, Gavin Smith, has told an audience at the Australasian Road Safety Conference that autonomous motoring will be the next major advance in reducing the road toll – and new driver-assist systems could more than halve pedestrian fatalities in the foreseeable future.

Smith was the keynote speaker at the conference, held last week at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Addressing the conference Thursday last week (October 15), Smith was particularly focused on removing the element of human error to increase road safety and also announced that Bosch was making developments into autonomous driving technology.

"More than 90 per cent of all crashes are caused by human error," he said.

"To mitigate these accidents, Bosch is developing a range of technologies that remove human decision making while driving."

Last year there were 150 pedestrian deaths on Australian roads, so Robert Bosch is currently developing new evasive steering support systems which could potentially prevent up to 58 per cent of pedestrian collisions.

While previous developments in driver assistance technology such as Antilock Braking (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control have already made cars so much safer, new technologies such as autonomous driving and Active Pedestrian Protection will accelerate road safety to new levels.

"Bosch technology not only detects the current position of pedestrians and cyclists, but also predicts where they will be in a second's time," said Mr. Smith.

"This presents new opportunities for pedestrian protection."

Bosch's new driver observations systems have also been developed to prevent accidents with distracted drivers, by monitoring the driver's line of sight via tiny cameras in the vehicle's cabin that can identify whether their eyes are on the road.

This system makes it possible to warn distracted drivers well before their situation becomes risky.

In terms of autonomous driving, Bosch claims automated parking will be available in 2016 which will lead to fully automated driving in the near future.

"Autonomous driving trials are already set to take place in South Australia and while we commend their leadership, I believe autonomous driving should be considered a national priority," Mr. Smith said.

"By eliminating driver error and enabling cars to communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure, roads will be safer, less congested and less polluted."

This technology involving the communication between cars as well as with infrastructure is similar to the systems Siemens and Cohda are planning on implementing in the near future.

Bosch isn't restricting this technology to road vehicles either; it is also working on a range of Intelligent Transport Systems for trains. Working with SBB Cargo (Switzerland), the collaboration is currently developing 'smart trains' that will revolutionise freight traffic and logistics.

The technology allows freight wagons to transmit data about their position and cargo to a central control centre.

As a result, companies will be able to deliver goods faster and provide their customers with more detailed information.