ZF Showcases Autonomous Braking, Different Methods

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EAST LIBERTY, Ohio — ZF’s Industrial Car Methods Division showcased individually on two heavy-duty vans its OnGuardMax autonomous emergency braking system and its adjustable electrical energy steering function — each coming quickly to the North American market.

The occasion convened Oct. 11 on the nonprofit Transportation Analysis Heart Inc., the place ZF has a 16,000-square-foot testing and growth hub.

ZF’s assessments of its Class 8 cutting-edge expertise had been finished on an asphalt pad, however the Transportation Analysis Heart contains a number of check programs and tracks nestled amid a 4,500-acre setting with tall timber, fields and cattail-spiked wetlands.

Germany-based ZF’s North American headquarters is in Northfield, Mich. It additionally showcased right here its eBeam electrical axle for the medium-duty pickups, which stays in ultimate growth. It was quiet and easy, with numerous settings for torque and braking alongside a two-lane hilly highway.

ZF’s CV growth check growth hub. (ZF)

Its PowerLine eight-speed computerized transmission was in a medium-duty field truck — with that product launch anticipated in North America in spring 2023, in line with the corporate, and constructed at its Grey Court docket, S.C., plant the place it has invested $200 million.

In 2020, ZF acquired business automobile expertise provider Wabco Holdings Inc. for $7.1 billion and it turned ZF’s Industrial Car Options division this yr.

“We’re not actually specializing in having a big assortment of merchandise. We’re actually considering how these merchandise are going to work in a system collectively,” stated Julien Plenchette, senior vp of Americas at ZF’s Industrial Car Options division.

ZF has 4 expertise domains: automobile movement management, automated driving, built-in security and electrical mobility — resting on software program and digitalization. The aftermarket accounts for 25% of its enterprise in North and South America and globally it’s most likely 30%, he stated. “We’re wanting on the providers we are able to present with that, and increasing on that.”

OnGuardMax 2.0 is the latest model of its superior driver-assistance system and makes use of each dual-lens cameras and short-range radar, Plenchette stated. Electrical energy steering is its subsequent step towards steer-by-wire (applied sciences that substitute mechanical controls, like throttles and steering linkages, with digital techniques, in line with specialists), “each for electrification but additionally to simplify the general steering system and lowering complete price of possession, complexity and the variety of parts.”

It’s coming to market within the second quarter of 2023, the corporate reported.

An indication of the OnGuardMax 2.0 autonomous emergency braking system was initiated at slightly below 50 mph because the Class 8 bore down on a mock-up of a stationary automotive straight forward.

The truck drew nearer; on the first warning the system utilized the brakes to gradual the truck and get the driving force’s consideration; nevertheless it stored going too quick. The second and ultimate braking occasion befell and stopped the truck inside a couple of ft of the stand-in for a automotive.

What was outstanding concerning the final braking occasion was how principally easy it felt given the sudden, fast deceleration — however not inflicting a slamming, herky-jerky response to be felt by these seated within the cab.

Technically, the OnGuard digicam recognized the surrogate automotive. The system requested a certain quantity of preliminary and extra deceleration — it didn’t simply order a one-time slam on the brakes. How easy all of it felt was a results of the ABS system that measured the deceleration fee, adjusted and readjusted, in line with the corporate.

It carried out as effectively later when detecting a cardboard bicyclist straight forward. In neither case was the system meant to exchange the driving force’s eager situational consciousness.

Additionally, the business is transitioning to electrical steering from hydraulic steering, just like the auto business did 15 years in the past, stated Joe Harter, software lead at ZF, throughout that check run.

At ZF, the electrical energy steering system is upkeep free since there’s solely the motor and kit system, no hoses, reservoirs, brackets, fluids or filters, he stated. It could possibly qualify for greenhouse gasoline credit because it eliminates the horsepower — saving gas — used to run a hydraulic pump when going straight down the highway. Harter known as {that a} “full waste of power.”

Its system is programmable by the driving force in order that it could possibly have the identical stiffness as hydraulic, or greater, for example. Or it could possibly steer straightforward resembling when doing car parking zone maneuvering or backing up a trailer. Nevertheless it mechanically will increase resistance because the truck’s velocity will increase.

It goes into manufacturing within the 2025 time-frame, he stated, with out figuring out the shopper, though the automobile pushed was a mannequin 579 Peterbilt, a unit of Paccar Inc.

In the meantime, ZF is working with its newly created fleet advisory board to collect suggestions.