The automotive branch of the German multinational Bosch has announced the acquisition of the British start-up Five, which specializes in autonomous driving. The two companies share the same vision on the technology and security of these systems. Financial details of the purchase transaction were not disclosed.
Change of course for Five
Founded in 2016 in Cambridge, Five employs 140 people in six offices across the UK. By March 2020, the company had raised $41 million to begin its transition to B2B, business-to-business business relationships. With this change of course, the start-up has given up on its initial objective: to build and produce its own autonomous vehicles. From now on, it wants to market its technological bricks directly to manufacturers and companies in the automotive sector.
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Bosch announces that it has preceded several companies to acquire Five and thus guarantee their control of the entire production chain of autonomous vehicles for its customers. The automotive supplier has already been present for a few years in the autonomous vehicle market. In August 2020, he had experimented with the concept of autonomous parking allowing cars to park on their own. It also acquired last March Atlatec, a company producing high-definition 3D maps for SAE level 3 and 4 autonomous driving.
” The development of autonomous vehicles is seen for car manufacturers as a goal. As one of the largest mobility providers in the world, Bosch is a driving force behind progress in this discipline. Today, it is strengthening its position by acquiring Five, the first European start-up in the field of automated driving “, says Joern Ebberg, the spokesperson for Bosch, in the communicated of the company.
Bosch specifies that the takeover is still awaiting validation by the antitrust authorities.
Bosch intends to accelerate the development of the fall drive
For the German manufacturer, autonomous driving will make the roads safer and the Five teams are already ready to join Bosch and begin the transformation of the automotive sector.
” Bosch is a global leader in assisted driving technologies, possessing the core technologies and large data lakes essential to bring safe automated driving systems to market. We are delighted that Five is part of the strongest SAE level 4 player in Europe and look forward to participating in the future success of Bosch. said Stan Boland, CEO of Five.
Companies in the sector are also starting to turn to autonomous driving. A growing market that should be valued at 500 billion euros in 2035, when the estimated release of the first “fully automated” vehicles.