Bosch : “With electromobility and connectivity, R&D is a major subject”

The last few months, indeed the last few years, have not been easy. There have been many challenges, and many challenges still remain. Our entire team has risen to the occasion magnificently. This situation requires us to analyse our business processes almost daily and realign them quickly. This is also the reason why we have come through this difficult period very well so far.

Most of Bosch’s business with Russian clients and in Russia has been interrupted as part of the sanctions. In view of the further worsening of the economic political situation, supply shortages resulting from the sanctions, and the clearly more difficult access to the Russian market, we expect further restrictions which may even lead to the discontinuation of most of our activities.

 Access to technical information is fundamental to manage IAM activity. This has been provided for in the European regulation since 2007, and is regularly updated and consolidated in EU 2018/858. However, this obligation is not always respected by manufacturers (litigation ongoing). The legislation must therefore be constantly improved and applied to provide independent operators with accurate and usable data. The price of this data must be fair and reasonable and not prohibitive (litigation ongoing).

Most car manufacturers now have a clear position on electromobility. Bosch can use its leading role in electromobility to support workshops with information, expertise and equipment. Electromobility is becoming increasingly important to Bosch, and R&D is playing a leading role. In 2021, we inaugurated our company’s first European 48-volt battery factories in Eisenach.

This is a very important issue. According to the European directive of
September 2020, the electronic systems of new vehicles must be protected against unauthorised access. Thus, any work carried out on these vehicles (calibration of driver assistance systems) requires a specific authorisation. For independent workshops, it is above all a question of remaining competitive and attractive despite these massive changes. And to successfully adapt to these changes, they need powerful and easy-to-use tools like those developed by Bosch. In this regard, Bosch and BMW recently introduced a technical solution developed as part of a pilot project that provides access to vehicle data via a radio link. The workshop can consequently contact the driver, arrange an appointment and prepare the work, including ordering the necessary spare parts.