Gapwaves, a Swedish tech company and Bosch, a leading global automotive supplier, have entered into an agreement regarding the development and large-scale production of high-resolution radar antennas for automotive vehicle applications aiming at highly automated driving. The contract has an expected sales value of high double-digit million-euro range over the next decade. Corresponding contracts have been signed on July 22, 2022, by the two companies.
Due to the increased demand of advanced active safety systems and autonomous applications, the market for high-resolution radar antennas for the higher levels of automated driving (SAE level 4) is predicted to strongly increase within the coming years. Gapwaves’ innovative antenna using waveguide technology enables cost efficient radar antennas with significantly increased performance. Gapwaves will therefore work together with Bosch as one of the market leading manufacturers of radar sensors for the automotive industry.
As part of the joint development Gapwaves will support with its antenna know-how and Bosch will contribute with its know-how of radar sensors and automated driving. After successful development, Gapwaves is targeting production and supply of the radar antennas in series production to Bosch.
“Gapwaves offers a novel and disruptive market leading technology for waveguide-based radar antennas. By entering into this agreement and combining our expertise, we are heading for a market leading radar sensor with significant increased performance intended for higher levels of automated driving,” said Volker Wetekam, Head of the Automated Driving unit at Bosch Mobility Solutions; “thus we are also strengthening Bosch’s position and opportunities in the emerging market for radar sensors for highly automated driving.”
“I am extremely proud that Gapwaves has entered this long-term collaboration with Bosch. We can now add another one of the largest companies within the automotive radar industry to our customer list,” said Lars-Inge Sjöqvist, CEO of Gapwaves. “The agreement with Bosch again confirms that Gapwaves antenna technology is a key component to enable a radar sensor for the higher levels of automated driving.” Sjöqvist continues. “Furthermore, this agreement confirms that Gapwaves is an approved and qualified supplier to the automotive industry, that is well-known for its extremely high requirements. Roughly, focus for the first four years will be on product development and production set-up, followed by serial deliveries of antennas the following years.”
Jonas Ehinger, chairman of the Board at Gapwaves commented the deal, “The agreement with Bosch is a result and an actual recognition of many years of hard work by the Gapwaves team along with its investments in technology and product development. It is also a milestone in Gapwaves’ history as the company now will be a supplier of radar antennas in high volume series production. We look forward to the future collaboration and a close partnership with Bosch as one of the market leading suppliers within the automotive industry.”