Gian Antonio D'Addetta, Dr.-Ing

Please tell us what fascinates you most about research.
Basically: discovering new things, repeatedly immersing myself in “worlds” that are unknown to me, and creating new things systematically. During my work at the universities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, I very much enjoyed occupying myself with basics-oriented topics in the field of Computational Mechanics. When I entered industry, I seized the opportunity to go into applied research, and was able to further maintain the link to the scientific community; in fact completely new links emerged.

What makes research done at Bosch so special?
One important aspect is definitely the variety and breadth of topics I have had the chance to work on over the years. Combined with the diversity and different subject backgrounds of my colleagues, this contributed significantly to the positive working atmosphere. And, of course, in research the new ideas arrive first and foremost at the “big Bosch” and it is our job to assess which topics should be developed further for the divisions and which should not. Nowhere else at Bosch are there such good opportunities for dialog and exchange with science, allowing us to be on the pulse of research.

What research topics are you currently working on at Bosch?
My current field of research is innovative solutions for the vehicle safety of the future. A future in which the combination of automated and non-autometed vehicles has become reality and the interiors of vehicles are much more focused on the needs of the occupants than today. But one thing is sure: There will still be accidents. For this reason, the occupants’ need for protection in these new interiors is at least as high as today. Our work, for example, with digital human models is essential to make progress on this topic.

What are the biggest scientific challenges in your field of research?
Independent of the implementation of safe automated driving, the challenges in vehicle safety lie in controlling new accident situations and in the realistic representation of the various occupants. New freedoms in the interior allow for a wide variety of sitting positions and occupant poses. Occupant protection can no longer be ensured using just crash tests. This would simply be too expensive. Modern simulation methods are called for here. One main focus is on the digital mapping of occupants using virtual human models.

How do the results of your research become part of solutions "Invented for life"?
Since as early as my doctorate period, my main concern has been working on technical solutions for the welfare and protection of people. In my daily work, I am very close to the frightful seconds no-one wants to experience: the vehicle crash. Our work with digital human models allows for a detailed description of the vehicle occupants’ kinematic behavior before and during an unintentional collision. Based on modern simulation methods, we deliver important ideas for the development of protective systems, such as the control of restraint systems.