Robots charge electric cars

Robots charge electric cars

Automated Valet Charging is the name of Bosch's solution, which guides electric vehicles driverlessly to a free parking space with a charging option, where they are automatically charged using charging robots. Bosch and Cariad are now testing the necessary technology in two in-house test parking garages: In the Cariad employee parking garage in Ingolstadt, the two companies are testing driverless parking with automated valet parking, while driverless charging with automated valet charging is also being tested in the Bosch development parking garage in Ludwigsburg. The infrastructure guides the vehicle to the parking lot, where a robot opens the charging flap, automatically plugs in the charging cable and unplugs it again as soon as the vehicle battery is fully charged. The car then drives driverless back to a parking space without charging facilities, freeing up space for the next electric vehicle with a low battery level. This makes it possible to load and park multiple vehicles without human interaction. This increases the efficiency of the charging infrastructure, optimizes the use of charging stations and reduces the annoying waiting time at the charging station for the customer.

Automated valet charging brings various advantages for automobile manufacturers, charging station operators, parking space operators and energy suppliers. "Automation plays a key role in the mobility transition and the transition to electromobility. With our two services, Automated Valet Parking and Automated Valet Charging, we provide users with a more comfortable mobility experience," says Manuel Maier, Vice President Product Area Cross Domain Parking Level 4 at Bosch. Rolf Dubitzky, Head of Parking at Cariad, also sees a lot of potential in the collaboration: “Through our cooperation, we can test the technologies early in vehicle development in order to implement them sustainably and offer customers the best possible user experience.” Automated Valet Parking is the world's first driverless parking service according to SAE Level 4 and has been in operation for end customers in the P6 car park at Stuttgart Airport for around a year. Bosch has also begun to equip other parking garages nationwide with the infrastructure technology.