· Memory capacity for engine management increased by a factor of 500 since 1979

· Improvement of combustion engines continues to be development goal

STUTTGART – How does Bosch manage innovations at a time of increasing cost pressures? Will the software content in electronics continue to grow? What will be the vehicle drive of the future? Dr. Siegfried Dais, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH, attempted to answer these questions in his speech delivered at the 75-year celebration of the Forschungsinstitut für Kraftfahrwesen und Fahrzeugmotoren (FKFS), the research institute for automotive engineering and vehicle engines of Stuttgart University.

"The car is practically re-invented every ten years. Existing functions have clearly changed by then, new functions have been added", said Dais. This tendency puts great demands on the innovative strength of businesses active in the automotive industry. Bosch therefore invests an above average amount in research and development – in 2004, just the Business Sector Automotive Technology invested some 2.4 billion euro or 9.4 percent of sales.

Research award for Bosch
For years now, Bosch has been the company in the automotive industry that applies for the largest number of patents worldwide. This leads again and again to new solutions and products: the "Stuttgarter Forum Auto und Umwelt" presented the Bosch researcher Dr. André Kulzer at the celebration of the FKFS with the research award 2004 for his work in the "direct start" of gasoline engines. As an additional function of the direct injection, the direct start starts the gasoline engine by igniting the combustion mix without the use of a starter motor. This Bosch development is especially helpful in "start-stop functions", which automatically cut the fuel supply to the gasoline engine when stopping and re-start the engine in a flash when driving on.

New functions enabled by software
The innovative strength of Bosch is a major reason for the important growth of the company. The sale of Bosch products per vehicle has increased five fold over the past 30 years. In Western Europe, it amounts nowadays to almost 900 euro, worldwide to some 400 euro. And the software content of electronic systems has also steadily risen: "In 1979, the first Bosch Motronic still had a memory capacity of four kilobyte, today this goes up to two megabyte, which is 500 times the capacity", stated Dais. Dais believes this tendency to continue at an even greater speed: "The majority of functions in driver assistance systems and in the combination of active and passive safety systems are software based."

The future of the combustion engine
The Bosch Board Member also had a few words to say on the future of the combustion engine: "No matter whether we take the ecological or economic perspective: the European decision to focus on diesel has not only been extremely successful but also confirmed by facts", Dais said about the diesel development of recent years. Dais reached the conclusion: "There is ample reason to be in the future intensively concerned with the improvement of the traditional combustion engine – the more so since this engine can also run on hydrogen".

In the long run, getting started with hydrogen management is a promising course to take, but at the present this is yet neither economically nor technologically a viable solution. "The fact that Europe could so far comply with the carbon dioxide limits is to a great extent the merit of the diesel", said Dais. But gasoline engines, too, are becoming more fuel economic. The combination of direct injection and downsizing will provide an about 15 percent greater fuel economy. Dais was very explicit about also paying attention to hybrid technology, since this offers an interesting alternative under certain conditions – in combination with sophisticated gasoline and diesel engineering. The success here depends specifically on the interaction of individual components with the engine and brake system management. Like no other supplier to the automotive industry, Bosch owns a wide-based systems know-how in this field.

However, a better traffic flow would equally reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. On some peak days, Germany nowadays produces traffic jams with a total length of up to 1000 kilometers. "The additional fuel consumption caused by congestion and stop-and-go traffic amounts right now to some 18 percent of our overall consumption. The estimated costs add up to 100 billion euro per year", enumerated Dais. Therefore, he called for the well-known dynamic navigation system on freeways to be also installed in inner cities. According to Dais: "There is urgent need for improvement in this area."

PI4992 - July 15, 2005