Intermediate results of the programs Sensible Car and Factory of the Future, that result from the partnership between UMinho and Bosch, were presented this Wednesday, April 28th, in the main auditorium of the Campus of Azurém. The company’s representative recognizes that cannot imagine “Bosch in Braga without the partnership of the University of Minho.
A fully autonomous driving may be at a distance of four to five years. The information was advanced, this Wednesday, by Carlos Ribas, representative of Bosch Portugal, in the presentation of the intermediate results of the programs Sensible Car and Factory of the Future, resulting from the partnership of UMinho with the German multinational, which already lasts about ten years and has more than 100 million euros of investment.
The Sensible Car programme is currently “at level two or three”, that is, at a stage where “the car already parks itself”, but to reach the point where driving is fully autonomous and requires no intervention from the driver, we need to reach level five, which could be achieved in “four to five years”. “Right now, all the solutions are being tested, which are in the prototyping phase,” he added. The technologies related to the Factory of the Future should be implemented “at the end of the project”, which ends this year. Remember that this program aims to respond to the challenges of competitiveness of the company in attracting the main projects of industrialization of new products of the BOSCH group, by increasing the levels of productivity, efficiency, flexibility and quality of the factory.
The success of the partnership that UMinho established with Bosch was evidenced by both parties. For the rector of the Minho academy, Rui Vieira de Castro, “the quality of the work being done is already visible”. “The results are fascinating and important in the translation into products and processes that contribute to change and facilitate our daily lives, contributes to qualified employment, to scientific results and it is known the impact it also has on Bosch’s activity, whether at the level of growth in the number of workers or in the company’s sales volume, “pointed out the rector.
The partnership has already allowed the hiring of about 60 new collaborators for Bosch and 70 researchers for the academy of Minho. Carlos Ribas evidenced that “between 80 and 90%” of the qualified labour of the company is made in UMinho.
Carlos Ribas recalled that “many of the innovation projects developed with UMinho can already be seen in millions of cars on the road. “We have much to gain with the knowledge of the University, which is, by excellence, the home of knowledge”, he added.
The talent they find in the academy of Minho and that they take to the factory allows “to bring wealth to Portugal”. “I cannot see Bosch in Braga without UMinho,” concluded the Portuguese representative of the German multinational.
Rui Vieira de Castro showed willingness to “continue this successful path”. The third phase of the partnership ends this year, but “new projects will come”. The path that unites academia and industry leads us to the future, where innovation and efficiency will be the key to success.
Source: RUM