Bosch subsidiary plans to expand with £1.6m investment

The Department for International Trade has confirmed that Bosch subsidiary, ETAS Centre of Excellence for Embedded Software development, will be expanding in York.

ETAS Ltd specialises in solutions to develop embedded systems for the automotive industry.

Its newly expanded centre will develop the technology to support future generations of advanced autonomous and highly automated driving.

The £1.6m investment and expansion will bring 11 new high skilled jobs in the autonomous vehicle industry, in addition to a significant supply chain impact for automotive software and future potential to increase to more than 40 positions.

A City of York Council spokesman said: “The expansion is a strong sign of confidence in York as a location to do business, with the city’s high calibre workforce, technology and innovation strengths, and excellent quality of life acting as key advantages for businesses located in the city.

“There is the possibility that the expansion could grow into a global centre for the development of software for connected and autonomous vehicles.

“While software has traditionally been a small fraction of the value of a car, that is changing rapidly.

“High-end cars will soon contain 100 million lines of software code in each vehicle, so automotive operating systems will become an industry in its own right.”

The current York location has been part of ETAS Ltd since 2003 and is responsible for the development of real-time operating systems and basic software for the automotive industry.

To date more than one billion copies of the ETAS York operating system have been deployed and are driving on the roads globally.

Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for economy and strategic planning, said: “We welcome this substantial expansion and investment from Bosch in York.

“This offers a great boost to our local job market, bringing a new degree of expertise to the city and giving residents to opportunity to upskill and explore new career paths.

“The expansion compliments our established network of thriving science and technology businesses across the city and marks another milestone in York’s journey of greener, cleaner innovation.”

Christine Hogan, senior inward investment executive at Make It York said: “We are delighted that Bosch has chosen York as the location for their UK expansion, investing significantly in developing the site and bringing new jobs to the city.

“It is testament to how well-placed York is as a location for business expansion of this nature: combining a strong knowledge-driven economy, world-class sector expertise, excellent connectivity, high talent retention and an unrivalled quality of life.”

David Dickson, deputy chair on the Main Board of York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “This is a significant boost for York and the region.

“It demonstrates the draw of the area as an excellent place to live and work and will lead to further economic growth.”