To this end, Bosch and vehicle manufacturer e.GO have now agreed to work together. Bosch is taking care of the infrastructure technology in the parking garage and, together with e.GO, is making cars fit for the automated parking and drive-up service. In the first step, automated valet parking is to be implemented with up to twelve e.GO Life - the name of the vehicle models from the Aachen-based start-up. The cars are part of the e.GO fleet and are available to company employees for business trips and to demonstrate the automated parking and drive-up service. In a second step, Bosch and e.GO want to use Automated Valet Parking to improve space utilization in the parking garage.

"Self-parking is a discontinued model. The car can park much better with Bosch technology and saves us drivers a lot of time and stress," says Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH. "Parking garages are the territory of a compact, maneuverable city car like the e.GO Life. With Automated Valet Parking, we can achieve even more - namely accommodate up to 50 percent more vehicles in an existing parking garage. Customers only have to pay a minimal surcharge for the technology option in the e.GO Life," says Prof. Dr. Günther Schuh, CEO of e.GO Mobile AG.

Intelligent infrastructure in the parking garage takes over vehicle guidance
Automated Valet Parking is an important milestone on the road to autonomous driving and an example from the service portfolio of the new Bosch Connected Mobility Solutions division. This is how it works: Drivers park their vehicle in a zone known as a drop-off area at the entrance to the parking garage. They then use a smartphone app to give the car the command to move driverlessly through the parking garage to a free parking space. The car is then driven back into the pick-up area in exactly the same way. The process does not need to be monitored by the drivers - they can, for example, leave the parking garage while the car is still on its way to the parking space. This is possible thanks to the intelligent infrastructure. Bosch sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and provide the information for controlling the vehicle. The technology in the car safely converts the commands from the infrastructure into driving maneuvers and stops the vehicle in good time if there are obstacles in the way or people crossing the path. In order to assess the reliable operation of the vehicle and parking garage technology, Bosch and e.GO want to involve TÜV and local authorities in their collaboration right from the start.

Automated valet parking already successfully implemented with Mercedes-Benz
For Bosch, the cooperation now launched with e.GO is a second Automated Valet Parking project. The pilot partner for the solution is Mercedes-Benz. Together, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz have already implemented Automated Valet Parking in the parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart and demonstrated it to the public in summer 2017. In this way, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz primarily want to gather experience on how users deal with driverless vehicles and their acceptance. The two companies will therefore be launching an Experience Tour in the coming weeks. During the Experience Tour, an expert will explain the technology to interested guests in the Mercedes-Benz Museum's parking garage during a ride in a driverless car and answer questions.