Bosch and Daimler are set to accelerate the development of fully-automated and driverless vehicles with the first trial to be carried out in California, US.

During the trial, Bosch and Daimler will offer customers a shuttle service through their Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level 4 / 5 automated vehicles on selected routes in a Californian metropolis during the second half of next year.

The project will demonstrate how mobility services such as car sharing, ride-hailing and multi-modal platforms can be intelligently connected to shape the future of mobility.

Daimler mobility services will serve as the operator of this test autonomous vehicle fleet and the app-based mobility service.

“For this pilot project, the two companies have selected Nvidia as the supplier of the artificial intelligence platform as part of their control unit network.”

Daimler automated driving head Dr Michael Hafner said: “The decisive factor is to introduce a safe, dependable and mature system.

“Safety has the highest priority and is the constant theme of all aspects and development stages on our way to the start of series production.”

For this pilot project, the two companies have selected Nvidia as the supplier of the artificial intelligence (AI) platform as part of their control unit network.

The platform is capable of running AI algorithms generated by Bosch and Daimler for the movement of the vehicle.

Robert Bosch Automated Driving Business Unit senior vice-president Dr Stephan Hönle said: “Developing automated driving to a level ready for series production is like a decathlon.

“It’s not enough to be good in one or two areas. Like us, you have to master all disciplines. Only then will we succeed in bringing automated driving to the roads and the city safely.”

Bosch and Daimler began their development cooperation on fully-automated and driverless driving in urban environments in April last year with an objective to improve road safety and traffic flow in cities and provide a foundation for the way traffic will work in the future.