BERLIN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- German automotive supplier Bosch plans to invest up to 4 billion euros (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the development of autonomous driving systems as well as to quadruple their current staff of approximately 1,000 specialists for artificial intelligence (AI), the company announced on Wednesday.
"Driverless driving will be a game changer for individual mobility," said Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Currently, approximately 4,000 developers are working for Bosch on autonomous driving. This year, Bosch expects revenues of around 2 billion euros from driving assistance systems.
A "core area of expertise" for Bosch was also the industrial application of artificial intelligence, according to Bosch CEO Denner. "By the middle of the next decade, we want all our products to be equipped with AI, or AI to have played a part in their development and manufacture."
Although American and Chinese companies would have a dominating position in artificial intelligence in the consumer goods industry, their potential would lag behind that of AI "without domain expertise in traffic, manufacturing, or buildings," Denner added. "As an innovation leader, we want to master AI ourselves and join the global elite."
In 2018, Bosch's total sales rose by 1.5 percent to 77.9 billion euros, while its operating profit stood at around 5.3 billion euros resulting in a margin of 6.9 percent for earnings before interest and taxes, according to preliminary company figures published on Wednesday.
The Mobility Solutions branch accounted for the largest share of Bosch's revenues with 47 billion euros, followed by the sectors of Consumer Goods with 17.8 billion euros and Industrial Technology with 7.4 billion euros.
Bosch, however, did not provide a precise sales forecast for the year 2019, but the company seeks to "develop better than its markets and secure its high level of earnings, despite the difficult economic conditions expected," announced Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, deputy chairman of the board of management and chief financial officer at Bosch.
