Successful bid for pioneering eMobility pilot project in Singapore

The Bosch Group has successfully bid for a pilot project in Singapore that includes a software-based service platform for e-mobility, as well as the necessary charging and communication infrastructure that goes with it. The target customers and users of the platform are people who drive or rent electric vehicles. The internet-based "eMobility Solution" not only helps drivers find available charge spots, but also lets them reserve spots in advance. That is particularly significant in megacities, where parking space and thus space for charge spots is limited.

The eMobility Solution is designed to be open and flexible, so that additional business models and value-added services can be integrated, such as the option for drivers to reserve power from renewable sources at the corresponding "eco-rates" or plan routes including alternative forms of transportation. "The many possibilities this integrated service platform offers are becoming especially apparent in megacities. The Singapore government has recognized this opportunity and is now working together with Bosch to make this pioneering technology a reality," said Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the Bosch board of management.

Service providers, for example, could propose routes to drivers that take into account their electric vehicles' ranges, the charge spots that are available, and the current traffic situation. On their navigation devices and cell phones, drivers could also receive information about the best way to reach their destinations using alternate routes that include public transportation.

Open for companies to integrate their business models

The Bosch solution is based on "Visual Rules" software, which allows specialist users to independently define and modify business rules. The software also makes it possible for other companies to integrate their business models into the eMobility Solution. Those companies might include operators of parking garages or facility managers, for example. The solution can easily be adapted to existing information and energy networks, allowing an e-mobility network to be tailored to the existing infrastructure in a given city. The service platform was specifically designed to be open enough to allow competing companies – public utilities, for example – to participate as well, or other providers to integrate their charge spots. The approach deliberately encourages unrestricted competition for creative ideas relating to e-mobility. It is accessible and flexible, offering customers a broad range of services and a high level of information security at the same time.

Bosch software and systems unit to lead the project

Project management will be in the hands of the software and systems unit of the Bosch Group. This unit can draw both on the expertise of the Bosch Group as a global supplier of technology and services and on the many years of experience of the Bosch subsidiary Innovations Software Technology GmbH. The software and systems unit is headquartered in Immenstaad, Germany, and has additional locations in Singapore, Chicago, and Stuttgart. It employs nearly 300 specialists, who engineer software for energy management, mobility, and the finance industry. The software and systems unit’s web-based solutions are designed to network different components and systems via the internet in such a way as to give rise to new business models for users and operators. That especially applies to technologies that are relevant for Bosch – technologies related to energy, mobility, health, and the environment. In the coming years, more and more intelligent systems will be able to use the internet to communicate automatically with each other. Experts expect that 15 years from now, the resulting "internet of things and services" will interconnect more than 50 billion components – from tiny sensors to high-performance computers.

Bosch Software Innovations to be christened at the start of the new year

The software and systems unit Innovations Software Technology GmbH will be renamed Bosch Software Innovations GmbH at the start of the new year. The subsidiary's new name will reflect both its own recognized software expertise and the global strength of the Bosch brand.