From blue dot to Blaupunkt
Many companies talk about “corporate identity”, but only few actually have it. Blaupunkt is a proven example that the name and the trademark can be identical. Most of all, the blue dot is today recognized for technical competence in radio reception on wheels: Blaupunkt-Werke GmbH, the Hildesheim-based member of the Bosch group of companies, is a market leader in the manufacture of car radios and vehicle navigation systems in Europe. It produces approximately five million car radios each year and employs almost 7,000 people worldwide.
Blaupunkt, however, was not an original brand name. In 1923, when radio technology was still in its infancy in Germany, a company called “Ideal” was founded in Berlin and its first products were headphones. Technicians carefully inspected each piece of equipment before it was released and marked it with a symbol which would soon become a respected mark of high quality – the blue dot (in German: blauer Punkt = Blaupunkt).
Before long, consumers just began to ask for the headphones with the blue dot. The symbol of quality became the company trademark and in 1938, the company name was changed to ‘Blaupunkt’ (the second half of the name is actually pronounced ‘poonkt’ by Germans).
Blaupunkt joined the Bosch group in and became a significant unit in its operations. Following World War II, the company moved from Berlin to Hildesheim. Today, it has car radio production plants in Portugal as well as Malaysia. To date, over 100 million car radios have rolled off the production lines bearing the blue dot.
Europe’s very first Autosuper car radio, introduced in 1932, was a Blaupunkt. Bosch engineers in Stuttgart designed this set to meet the special requirements for its installation in motor vehicles. Blaupunkt was also instrumental in advancing the technological development of radio on wheels: in 1952, Blaupunkt put the first FM radio onto the market; in 1964, they launched the first stereo car radio; and, in 1974, they introduced the first traffic message receiver. In 1998, Blaupunkt was again at the forefront of the field with the first commercial traffic telematics terminal equipment.
Blaupunkt employees consistently devote their efforts to developing new technologies and this is of particular benefit to the core business of mobile communications. To name a few examples: the current car radios Atlanta and San Francisco represent a milestone in car hifi development because of their driving noise covering systems alone.
With the introduction of the RadioPhone, the company created a fully new product line – the integration of the car radio with mobile telephone technology. The unit combining these two pieces of equipment fits neatly into the standard radio compartment in vehicles and requires no extra installation equipment except for a hands-free microphone and a combination antenna. VOCS (Voice Control System) makes using the telephone and the radio easier than ever – and safer too because the motorist’s hands never need leave the steering wheel.
Such networked systems are a clear indication of what the future holds for mobile communications because motorists are unlikely to accept new communications technology which distracts them from their main job: driving. Consequently, new developments do not only aim to make the operation of the individual components easier. It is also important to concentrate the control of these components in a central driver information system, operated with menu-prompting and a minimum number of buttons – a concept which Blaupunkt also offers to the automakers.
Among the new services that car radios provide nowadays is route guidance, a field in which Blaupunkt has already blazed new trails. The TravelPilot, introduced as the very first navigation system for regular road traffic in 1989, marked the current vehicle position and the selected destination on an electronic road map. The system is able to calculate the quickest possible route between these two points and to generate a driving recommendation for each traffic junction.
Whether it is integrated into a mobile media centre or installed as a stand-alone system, the TravelPilot of the new generation is now able to display a road map or directional arrows to guide the motorist to the next intersection. And the speech memory also emits spoken recommendations to tell the driver when it is time to make the next turn.
And finally, Blaupunkt was the first company to develop and mass-produce a dynamic route guidance system which is able to take reports of traffic congestion into account automatically in vehicle navigation. With the introduction of the Dynamic Auto Pilot System (DynAPS) for different vehicle classes of Mercedes-Benz, for example, it is now possible for the system to make driving recommendations based on the information on the current traffic situation.
The convergence of many new electronic technologies on the dashboard of the cars of today and tomorrow will require expertise in integration and with its decades of experience, Blaupunkt is obviously well equipped for the challenges ahead.
“We see more and more individuals spending at least half their time in their vehicles, having to cover long distances for various reasons and thus they have come to appreciate the design and physical look of radios, becoming more selective in their purchases of such equipment and accessories,” says Walter Eisenhardt, Managing Director of Robert Bosch(SEA) Pte Ltd. “We realise that these new needs have to be addressed, consistently and constantly.”
“Our car audio division, Blaupunkt, will be able to cater to the comforts and ever-demanding needs of the modern individual by providing a relaxing and soothing driving ambience coupled with the choice of various car audio designs and accessories,” he promises.
