FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. --- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), vehicle-related fatalities have remained constant for nearly a decade at approximately 40,000 deaths per year. Advancements in vehicle safety, designed to help reduce that alarming statistic, hinge on the research and development of advanced electronic technologies. 

"Our premise is simple --- vehicle safety is the next frontier for automotive electronics," said Jason Forcier, president of Robert Bosch LLC's automotive electronics division in North America. "Active safety technologies like forward collision warning, predictive braking and lane departure warning are helping to improve a driver's safety by completely avoiding or decreasing the severity of crashes." 

Bosch's Vehicle Motion & Safety (VMS) creates a network including all systems and components relevant to vehicle motion, which often are already available in the vehicle. The resulting functions will have the ability to inform, alert and support the driver as the situation requires, or even to intervene independently in emergencies. This will further optimize driving safety, comfort and agility, the company said.

"In addition to innovation, collaboration is essential for advancing safety," said Forcier. "The industry --- automakers and suppliers --- legislators, regulators and consumer advocacy groups must work in unison to achieve technology-neutral legislation and a common understanding among consumers of the benefits of these safety technologies."

On Tuesday, April 15, Forcier participated on an "Electronics: Expectations and Opportunities" panel at the 2008 SAE World Congress where he discussed this topic as well as industry expectations of advanced electronics. 

In addition to Forcier's discussion at the 2008 SAE World Congress, Bosch hosted "AUTOSAR at Bosch" on Monday, April 14, at the Marriott Detroit Renaissance Center hotel. This discussion focused on how the Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) will be introduced in Bosch products. Also, the company presented 13 technical papers. 

For the fourth year in a row, Bosch will serve as the SAE World Congress Banquet Afterglow sponsor on Thursday, April 17, at Seldom Blues in Detroit.