My Bosch ConnectedWorld 2024 Highlight Reel

[MattQuirk]

Article contributed by Tommaso Bellomo.

My Bosch ConnectedWorld 2024 highlight reel

You might know from my recent posts how much I was looking forward to attending Bosch ConnectedWorld. Let me tell you, BCW24 did not disappoint. Here are my top six highlights and takeaways from the conference.

1. Fantastic innovator vibes

With so many innovators, builders, visionaries, and industry leaders in one place, you could feel the techno-optimism and excitement for the future in the air. These positive vibes were palpable from the exhibition hall to the main stage, and especially intense at the networking hubs and parties.

Bosch posted a BCW24 highlight reel that offers a glimpse into what transpired at the conference. Warning: if there’s a past-tense term for FOMO, this could cause it.

Fortunately, until March 27, you can still view many of the keynotes and deep-dive sessions online. Just sign up for a free BCW online ticket and get access to the on-demand replays.

2. AI takes flight

If anyone had any doubts about whether AI has arrived, BCW24 put them to rest. From the opening keynote to most breakout sessions and inside practically every exhibitor booth, artificial intelligence was the main topic of conversation.

While a myriad of GenAI applications were on display, one of the presentations that impressed me most was Lufthansa’s use of several ML and AI technologies in an operations control assistant. The system uses real-time data and reinforcement learning to help the airline significantly increase fuel efficiency and reduce chemtrail emissions with their planes.

3. Flying taxis are coming

Speaking of flight, it appears that aerial taxis may soon be flying above a city near you. Urban air mobility company Volocopter announced its first flights in Rome from the Fiumicino airport to the Vatican. It also plans to shuttle passengers between Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and the Olympic stadium during this summer’s games. The company’s roadmap for the Volocopter starts with human pilots and ultimately transitions to fully autonomous flight.

Flying taxis have been quite a recent talking point! They made an appearance at MWC last month as well – check out my colleague George’s blog to learn more.

4. The need for trustworthy AI

With AI at the top of everyone’s mind, many discussions are turning to issues of hallucinations, bias, and inexplicable results. HPE partner Aleph Alpha joined us at our booth to demonstrate the new trustworthy GenAI tool we developed together. We showed how this solution uses Aleph Alpha’s Luminous model and Bosch’s AIShield software to provide clear explanations of which knowledge.

5. Experiencing the Autoverse

Several exhibitors had demonstrations that showed how maturing augmented and virtual reality technologies, along with AI, ML, and IoT, are enabling digital twin simulations of products, processes, and even things like factories. I was fascinated by the immersive experience of using AR glasses to sit in and adjust the virtual version of a high-performance automobile. This was a really great demo by digital.auto, an open community dedicated to creating the next generation of software-defined vehicle experiences.

6. Hackathon results

One of Europe’s largest AI and IoT hackathons, Bosch ConnectedExperience (BCX), was held at the same time as BCW24. Over three days, dozens of teams of developers, coders, and other tech pros hurried to tackle challenges and build new solutions in either the Digital.Industry or Digital.Auto track.

With so many things going on at BCW, I wasn’t able to attend the final team pitches live. Fortunately, the pitches and winner announcements are available to view on-demand. Spoiler: congratulations to team Lisyvi and team Color Saves Life for your big wins! I look forward to seeing where you go with your innovative solutions.

It's my first time attending BCW but it definitely won’t be the last!

Tommaso Bellomo.