Bosch invests 28 million in intelligent mobility project with U. Porto

It’s called THEIA and it’s the project that will involve Bosch and Porto University. The 28 million euros investment from the German group, to be applied until 2023, aims at the development of solutions to improve the sensory capabilities of automated vehicles. This partnership presupposes the hiring of 55 workers, along with more than 70 researchers from the Porto institution.

The U. Porto explains that THEIA – Automated Perception Driving “aims to respond to the demands of automated driving and the mobility of the future”. The base of the research to be developed will be “the application of perception algorithms based on data collected by the vehicles’ sensors – with special focus on LIDAR sensors – to build a precise, strong and safe perception of its surrounding environment”.

One of THEIA goals will be “to contribute to guaranteeing the necessary safety conditions for the use of automated vehicles”. “The idea is for them to be able to prevent and even “choose” scenarios facing the obstacle/identified problem”, shares the U. Porto that, in this way, assumes the responsibility of “placing Portugal on the map of innovations in terms of intelligent mobility”.

For the Dean of the U.Porto, this research contract is in line with “the serious effort to approach companies” that the institution has undertaken, “with a view to carrying out joint qualification, research, development and innovation activities”. “We want to make a superlative contribution to the economic enhancement of knowledge and, at the same time, find companies in the productive fabric that can be our partners in innovation projects and advanced study programs, as is the case with Bosch”, says António de Sousa Pereira.

This is not the first time that the Porto institution and the German company have come together in a project. In 2019, they worked on “Safe Cities”, created to “respond to and anticipate the challenges facing modern urban societies, increasingly dependent on technological evolution”, recalls the U.Porto.

In a statement to Negócios, Bosch representative in Portugal, Carlos Ribas, assures that “we have no doubt that these partnerships are the key to propel innovation, scientific development and creation of qualified employment. That is why we continue working to promote these relationships that recognise the talent, quality and the dynamics of the research and development ecosystem that exist in Portugal”.

Co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme (COMPETE 2020), the project THEIA will count on a team of researchers from the Engineering and Sciences colleges of U. Porto.