German tech giant’s India arm is buoyant on the demand for active safety systems and is localising key technologies such as ABS and ESC to drive their adoption, Sandeep Nelamangala, the joint MD of Bosch and president of Bosch Mobility said.
23 Jan 2025 | 6686 Views | By Mayank Dhingra
Automotive industry’s tier-1 supplier Bosch is taking a comprehensive approach to enhancing vehicle safety across segments in India with its advanced and cost-effective offerings to reduce accidents and road fatalities. The company has an expansive suite of highly localised on-board and off-board safety solutions, such as Antilock-Braking Systems (ABS), Electronic ...
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Automotive industry’s tier-1 supplier Bosch is taking a comprehensive approach to enhancing vehicle safety across segments in India with its advanced and cost-effective offerings to reduce accidents and road fatalities. The company has an expansive suite of highly localised on-board and off-board safety solutions, such as Antilock-Braking Systems (ABS), Electronic Stability Programmes (ESP), airbag control units and e-call systems, among others, for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to make their vehicles safer for occupants as well as other road users.
In this interview, Sandeep Nelamangala, joint managing director of Bosch and president of Bosch Mobility India, talks about how the company is eyeing the demand for new-age safety technologies like ADAS and leveraging its technological prowess and local development capabilities to offer more accessible vehicle safety systems to its customers in India.
How does Bosch see the safety landscape in India transforming in the coming years?
India’s growing economy is driving rapid infrastructural development, with high-speed roads and express highways becoming increasingly common. The rise in domestic consumption and the growth of quick commerce have led to a surge in freight and trucking operations. Digitalisation is transforming the way goods and people move. These mobility trends will pose additional safety challenges. Reports state that India records nearly 400 road fatalities daily, 65% of which occur in the productive age group of 16-35 years.
At Bosch, our goal is to harness our technological prowess to shape the future of mobility and make driving experiences safer and better. By bringing technologies like ABS, ESP and MSC (Motorcycle Stability Control) to the mass market and supporting readiness for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), we aim to contribute to this goal.
What role are advanced technologies such as ‘by-wire’ systems and active and passive safety systems going to play in enhancing vehicle safety?
By-wire technologies, such as steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire, give an opportunity to harness the potential of evolving vehicle/electronic architectures, thereby enabling advanced technologies such as highway-assisted driving. For end-users, steer-by-wire can significantly mitigate risks associated with evasive manoeuvres, such as understeer and oversteer.
We commend the government’s proactive approach in mandating safety features, such as speed limiters for commercial vehicles, airbags for cars and ABS for two-wheelers and cars. These regulations have undoubtedly contributed to a safer road environment.
What technology roadmap is Bosch following to develop cost-effective and efficient safety systems for Indian vehicles?
Bosch is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing safety concerns across various vehicle segments. By leveraging a diverse technology stack, we are tailoring solutions which are “fit for the region” and “fit for the segment”.
Our safety principles, encompassing functional safety and cyber security (for safe data exchange), also span horizontally across the domains.
Bosch is committed to enhancing two-wheeler safety through a three-step approach: improving vehicle stability, implementing predictive safety and comfort features enabled by surround-sensing technology and connecting motorcycles to their environment through V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication.
Incidentally, two-wheeler users account for about 45% of road crash fatalities on Indian roads. To democratise safety technology across segments, Bosch is working towards a cost-effective ABS for the market.
What are some of the existing active and passive safety systems being supplied by the company to its OEM customers?
Bosch offers a comprehensive suite of safety solutions, both on-board and off-board. On-board systems include core safety features such as ABS, ESP, airbag control units and crash sensors and advanced driver assistance systems such as lane-departure warning, forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking.
Additionally, Bosch provides standalone software solutions for vehicle dynamics management, driver-drowsiness detection and tyre-pressure monitoring.
Off-board safety solutions from Bosch include emergency call systems for immediate assistance in accidents, cloud-based battery monitoring for remote vehicle health checks, smartphone-based collision detection for timely emergency response, stolen vehicle tracking and access-management systems for enhanced security.
Bosch is already market-ready for new-age technologies like radar-based ADAS for motorcycles, V2X communication for improved traffic efficiency/accident reduction and audio-based occupant-safety systems for ride-hailing services.
How do Bosch’s safety systems fare in terms of localisation? How is the company planning to enhance local content?
We have significantly invested in local engineering and software development capabilities to address the specific requirements of the Indian market.
By localising ABS and ESP, Bosch has optimised costs and enabled increased penetration. This localisation extends to critical components like pump housings and high-value electronics such as ECUs (Electronic Control Units), which are now manufactured at our state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 facilities in Chakan (Pune) and Naganathapura (Bengaluru).
Bosch is prioritising localisation to make advanced safety systems more accessible to enhance road-safety standards and reduce accidents and fatalities. We will be showcasing key solutions from our Vehicle Motion portfolio at the upcoming Bharat Mobility Global Expo.
How is the company addressing the growing demand for ADAS from Indian passenger vehicle OEMs? What level of local calibration and development are being undertaken in these products?
We have invested in system engineering and software capabilities at Bosch Global Software Technologies to support our customers on requirements engineering, system layouts, data collection/labelling, complete software development, perception tuning with AI-enabled decision-making, vehicle calibration/application/simulation/validation, type approval and aftermarket support.
This comprehensive approach covers the entire value chain.
We have continuously strengthened our portfolio across radars and cameras via generation upgrades to address the unique challenges of Indian roads. We are actively working with our customers to develop regional adaptations and incorporate India-specific use cases, such as detecting animals, auto-rickshaws and motorcycles.
What is Bosch’s growth outlook from passive and active safety systems in PVs in India by 2030?
Consumer appetite for advanced safety technologies is constantly rising. With the government’s growing emphasis on stricter safety regulations coupled with the increasing momentum in active and passive safety systems, we expect to see a compounded annual growth rate of 15% to 20% until 2030 in active systems, while ADAS applications could see a CAGR of over 40% until 2030.