Robert Bosch Venture Capital backs the evolution of automated driving with investment in UISEE

Stuttgart, Germany – Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, has completed an investment in Beijing based UISEE, a provider of turnkey solutions for automated driving (AD), initially in restricted areas. Its AD tractors have started to get operational and transport freights of thousands of passengers daily at an international airport. “As one of the leading automated driving companies in China, UISEE provides an advanced Level 4 automated driving platform that addresses the need of efficiency improvement”, says Dr. Ingo Ramesohl, Managing Director at RBVC. “UISEE adds to a growing RBVC portfolio of proprietary technologies for automated driving and enables a variety of cooperation opportunities with Bosch in this area.” “We are excited to be supported by Bosch,” says UISEE CEO Gansha Wu. “The investment and cooperation with Bosch will support UISEE to elevate products and services and serve customers globally.”

Advanced Level 4 automated driving solution for baggage tractor in live operations

UISEE is a holistic full-stack supplier for automated driving systems, with solutions initially commercialized for restricted area applications such as airports and factory parks. The AD system contains a sensor stack, controllers and algorithms, tool chain, and a roadside unit specifically developed by UISEE. In January 2020, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) announced that it had successfully completed its testing phase with UISEE's solutions for AD tractors and recently started transporting real luggage in daily operations. UISEE’s AD-solution is expected to improve efficiency greatly at HKIA.

The need of automated driving in restricted areas

As production, trade, technology development and consumption in China increase, so does the demand for mobility of people and goods. The aging of the population on the one hand, and increasing prosperity of the younger generation on the other hand, pose challenges on the availability of labor. Hence, according to the Global Autonomous Vehicle report by Allied Market Research, the market amounts to 54bn US-Dollar in 2019 and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 39,47% until 2026. The growth of connected infrastructure, and transition from ownership to mobility-as-a-service (Maas) fuel the growth of the global automated vehicle market. UISEE believes that its AD solutions will help to provide an answer to the labor shortage and increase efficiency.

Experienced team and investors

UISEE’s founders are Chinese pioneers in automated driving and AI. The founding team consists of AI experts, automated driving veterans and scientists. CEO Gansha Wu, was the former president of Intel Research China. Among others, RBVC joins investors Sinovation Ventures, Shenzhen Capital and China International Capital Corporation. The consortium continues to provide strong support to the world-class team in its endeavor to automated driving.