Bosch developing cloud-based wrong-way driver warning

Bosch is developing a cloud-based solution that warns drivers about approaching wrong-way vehicles. The new technology is designed to provide a warning within 10 seconds or so.

“Bosch is developing a guardian angel in the data cloud,” says Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management at Robert Bosch GmbH. As a pure software module, this alert function can also be inexpensively integrated into existing infotainment systems or apps. The supplier of technology and services is planning to start production as early as 2016.

To detect wrong-way driving, the cloud-based function compares the vehicle's actual movements with the permitted direction of travel. Information about this is stored in a web-based database. If the two sets of information clash, the wrong-way driver is alerted to their error. At the same time, drivers of oncoming vehicles are also warned. The function relies on regular, anonymized reporting of each vehicle's position to the cloud – a central computer center in which data are stored and analyzed over the internet. The more connected vehicles there are, the denser the invisible safety net and the more comprehensively road users can be warned of wrong-way drivers. 

This new function will be available as a cloud service from 2016. It can be integrated into apps such as Bosch myDriveAssist, as well as into automakers' infotainment solutions. In the medium term, the solution could also be integrated into standardized emergency call concepts such as eCall. The wrong-way driver alert requires an unbroken connection to the internet. Either the vehicle already has an appropriate infotainment solution on board, or the driver's smartphone is connected to the vehicle using an integration solution such as Bosch mySPIN. The good thing is that one of these connection options is often already fitted or can be easily retrofitted. There is no need to integrate any additional hardware. That makes the cloud solution as global as it is cost-effective. “We're aiming to achieve quick market acceptance so that the system can realize its life-saving potential to the full as soon as possible,” added Dr. Hoheisel.