Stuttgart, Germany – Guardian angels have many faces. Perfectly round, the size of a plate, and thick as a thumb, the brake disc is one of them. Long before ABS, ESP, airbags, and other features, they were making driving safer and significantly shortening stopping distances, thereby helping prevent many traffic accidents. Today, however, there is another reason why brake discs are at the center of public attention: brake dust. Most particulate pollution from road traffic is caused by road, tire, and brake wear rather than fuel combustion. According to the Baden-Württemberg state environmental agency, brakes and tires are responsible for 32 percent of driving-related particulate emissions, roughly half of which is brake dust. Significantly reducing brake dust is therefore essential to improving the air, especially in cities. That is precisely why Bosch has developed the iDisc. Compared to a conventional brake disc, it generates up to 90 percent less brake dust. “It’s not just under the hood that Bosch is working to keep the air clean,” says Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, member of th6e Bosch board of management. “The iDisc is the brake disc 2.0. Its market potential is tremendous.” The iDisc is scheduled to go into production for a European manufacturer in November 2017.
Mobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. In 2016, its sales came to 43.9 billion euros, or 60 percent of total group sales. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector combines the group’s expertise in three mobility domains – automation, electrification, and connectivity – and offers its customers integrated mobility solutions. Its main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology.