Through the more comprehensive use of modern AI, the Automated Driving Alliance is taking another step towards its major goal: Bosch and CARIAD want to make automated driving available to millions of private motorists – from the volume to the premium segment. In future, the new driving functions will allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel in various driving situations. The first implementations in test fleets are already available and are now being systematically trained and further developed on a daily basis using large amounts of data. From mid-2026, a software stack will then be available for application in series projects.
The automated driving functions from Bosch and CARIAD are intended for the new “software-defined vehicle” architecture in the Volkswagen Group. From individual driving functions to a complete software environment: Bosch will also make this scalable solution available to other manufacturers worldwide in order to actively promote automated driving on a broad scale. The project team of the two companies thus impressively demonstrates that consistent partnership, technological excellence and clear goal orientation lead to innovative European solutions.
Peter Bosch, CEO of CARIAD, explains: “We are demonstrating that the German automotive industry has mastered the key technologies of artificial intelligence and automated driving itself. With the expertise of our developers and engineers, we are securing an integral part of Europe’s digital sovereignty. Our goal in the Alliance is to make the comfort and safety of automated driving systems accessible to as many people as possible so that they can gain valuable new time in their cars.”
Mathias Pillin, CTO at Bosch Mobility, adds: “Data and AI are key when it comes to putting automated driving systems on the road reliably and on a large scale. We can only master this challenge together by working together as equals and breaking down old ways of thinking. In the Automated Driving Alliance, we are demonstrating with CARIAD how this works successfully.”
AI use in all technology modules
The Automated Driving Alliance has been using AI since the beginning of the partnership – for example in the area of perception, e.g. for object recognition. AI is now used along the entire software technology chain: from object recognition, the fusion of various sensors such as cameras and radars, to decision-making and implementation in the safe automated control of the drive, steering and brakes. In future, the automated driving functions will be based on a consistent, end-to-end AI architecture in which all modules will become even more powerful and intelligent through the use of AI.
The use of state-of-the-art technology, as known from generative AI applications, is at the heart of the developments. Just as language models understand complex semantic relationships, the Automated Driving Alliance’s new AI stack can analyze urban traffic scenarios and anticipate both current and potential behavior of road users from different sensor modalities. Bosch and CARIAD are flanking these technological advances with a modern development environment and comprehensive hardware strategy that enables scalable and future-proof implementation in all vehicle classes.
The end-to-end development of all technology elements with their own source code and intellectual property forms the basis of the development partnership. This enables complete technical control of the source code with clear standards for data protection, security, driving safety and transparency as well as the ability to create innovations quickly and agilely through source code optimization and deliver them to customers. The developers design the architecture in such a way that the decisions and actions of the artificial intelligence remain safe, comprehensible and explainable.
The software stack also creates a basis for the possible integration of multimodal AI approaches that link visual and linguistic information. So-called Vision Language Action (VLA) approaches can imitate the logical thinking and actions of humans. Such use enables even more efficient training and an even deeper understanding of complex traffic situations. For example, VLAs can help to detect hidden risks while driving and react accordingly.
Large test fleet for daily training of driving systems
The AI stack will make automated driving in the Level 2 and Level 3 range even more robust. Until the start of series production, performance will be continuously improved by collecting enormous amounts of data in order to achieve maximum safety and reliability of the system. A comprehensive test and validation fleet in public road traffic is essential for this. The CARIAD and Bosch teams are working together worldwide and testing the driving functions on public roads in Europe, Japan and the USA – underlining the ambitious plan for a software stack for automated driving that can be used in many global markets. The development is data-driven, which means that the software can be imported into the test vehicles several times a day with new updates and optimizations to the source code.
The technology is already in use in test vehicles such as the ID.Buzz and the Audi Q8. This year alone, additional test vehicles in the three-digit range will be equipped with a comprehensive set of sensors to collect high-quality data. This data will be used to further optimize the AI stack and analyse complex and rare driving situations, known as corner cases. Thanks to the development of an end-to-end, AI-supported software solution, assisted and automated driving will become even safer and more convenient for the end customer.
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Further links
👉 www.bosch.de
Photo: CARIAD
