Image: Bosch
Bosch is further expanding its position in the automated vehicle market with the acquisition of automated driving startup Five.
While the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, the acquisition will allow Bosch to advance the development of self-driving cars and will merge the respective software engineering teams. Five will become part of Bosch’s cross-domain computing solutions division.
“Five is a perfect fit for our technical activities, not least because of the mindset and flexible approach of the employees. This brings us closer to our goal of bringing safe automated driving to our roads,” said Mathias Pillin, Bosch president for cross domain computers. a statement.
This latest acquisition by Bosch follows the company’s recent acquisition of Atlatec, a digital mapping company, and is expected to strengthen Bosch’s capacity to facilitate autonomous driving.
The German company has been building its position in the automated vehicle sector for years. Previously, the company worked on several occasions with the governments of Queensland and Victoria in Australia to test the use of self-driving cars.
The company also struck a deal with Baidu and map providers, AutoNavi and NavInfo, to develop “high-precision maps” that it believes were necessary to enable autonomous driving.
“Automated driving will make road traffic safer,” said Markus Heyn, chairman of Bosch mobility solutions business.
Earlier this week, San Francisco police officers were caught on video running over a Cruise autonomous vehicle for driving without any headlines, only to find no one inside. The video, originally posted to Instagram, showed the car driving away shortly after it was pulled over.
In a response to a tweet that was made by 9 to 5 publisher Seth Weintraub, Cruise said the vehicle had functioned as intended when it drove to the “nearest safe location for a traffic stop.”
“We are working closely with the SFPD on how to interact with our vehicles, including a dedicated phone number they can call in situations like this,” Cruise added.
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