Bosch Digital built a multilingual semantic search system called SmartSearch to handle 27 languages and millions of technical documents for Bosch eBike Systems. The system evolved from keyword search to vector-based retrieval using embeddings, hybrid search (70% semantic, 30% BM25), and cross-encoders. Key optimizations
Table of contents
Why did keyword search crumble?Designing a smarter way to searchWhen search becomes chatSlimming the brain, not the brainsNames, not guesses: How GLiNER supercharged recognitionFrom answers to actions: Agentic workflows for the next-gen assistantWhat we’d do again—and what we wouldn’tSort: