drive THE ZF MAGAZINE 1.2017 0101_Cover.indd 1 CHANGE! ALL DIGITALIZATION THE ZFMAGAZINE New solutions for logistics 4.0 DELIVERY An algorithmic guardian angel SAFETY ZF teaches how to cars think ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE .2017 1. 03.03.17 16:17 EDITORIAL

“130 years after the car was invented, we’re re-examining and reinventing mobility from fi rst principles.”

re you aware To overcome this challenge, that we’re ZF is not only building up currently liv- in-house expertise, but also ZF ON ALL ing through acquiring new, highly spe- a revolution? cialized knowledge through SinceA it was fi rst invented investments and joint ven- CHANNELS more than 130 years ago, tures. For instance: one of the car has steadily evolved the reasons we took a stake ZF news is published on a wide variety of platforms. into what it is today. But in technology company Ibeo now a positive storm of Automotive Systems was so change is sweeping through that we could jointly de- To follow ZF on Facebook, just scan the world of mobility as velop a new in-vehicle lidar this QR code using we know it. New types of system for environmental your smartphone or mobile device. drives, new kinds of auto- Dr. Stefan Sommer, recognition. This is crucial mation are developing at a CEO of for autonomous driving. For more on the world of ZF, check breakneck speed that has ZF Friedrichshafen AG Just as crucial is the use out our website at www.zf.com. In more in common with time- of artifi cial intelligence (AI), our online magazine, you’ll find lapse movies than gradual because it will enable the videos, photo galleries and back- evolution. Brand-new players are demanding entry to driverless cars of the future to learn from every yard ground stories covering all the latest the hallowed halls of the long-established automotive of road they cover. However, the electronic control ZF activities. As a global technology industry, and seemingly unequal partners are working units (ECUs) in widespread use in today’s cars are over- company, we also have a presence together on revolutionary new ventures. whelmed by the data processing and analysis required on all the most popular social media The catalyst for this transformation is digitalization. by AI systems. This is why we have entered into a joint channels. Follow us on Facebook, Our personal and business lives are increasingly perme- venture with AI computing company Nvidia – so that LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube and you’ll ated by digital products, services and processes. Not only together, we can bring the processing power of a super- always find the most up-to-date info is digitalization speeding up the pace of automotive devel- computer to automotive and industrial applications. on ZF, as well as more general news opment – in many cases it is also delivering the tools we These are just two examples of how digitalization on mobility and technology. need to build totally new solutions. Digitalization is what both poses challenges, but also delivers solutions, to makes smart systems networking possible, without which our company, our customers, and tomorrow’s mobility self-driving cars would remain a pipe dream. systems. To gain an even better understanding of the For a long time, ZF has been striving to make its own, revolution catalyzed by this fascinating value driver, I tried-and-tested mechanical products smarter – hence warmly invite you to explore the whole subject of “digi- more effi cient and safer – by networking them together. talization” in this latest issue of our magazine. ■ Cover: Dave Hänggi; Photos: shutterstock (4), Andreas Pohlmann (4), Andreas shutterstock Hänggi; Photos: Dave Cover:

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EN_02_ZF_Drive_01_2017 2 15.03.17 14:12 EN_03_ZF_Drive_01_2017 3 03.03.17 16:20 CONTENTS CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

22 40

DIGITALIZATION MOBILITY CONCEPT MAGAZINE

12 DIGITAL REVOLUTION 36 ONE PLATFORM – 1,000 POSSIBILITIES 06 PROLOGUE The onward march of digitalization aff ects us all – ZF’s Intelligent Rolling Chassis provides a fl exible ZF Moment / New vehicles featuring ZF tech / from individuals to globally active enterprises basis for multiple mobility concepts News from across the company

22 DIGITAL GUARDIAN ANGEL 54 YESTERDAY & TODAY ZF’s new X2Safe algorithm alerts road users to LOGISTICS Steering systems i mminent collisions 40 DELIVERY 4.0 55 SERVICE 28 MINDS IN MACHINES Changing customer expectations are radically About this ZF ProAI is a major milestone on the transforming logistics. What does the future hold? magazine road to automated driving

30 STRONGEST TOGETHER ROAD SAFETY 12 ZF digitalization experts discuss new alliances and the future of m obility 44 SAFETY RATINGS IN SAFE HANDS 50 Independent testing organizations like NCAP have 34 THE SILICON VALLEY FACTOR a signifi cant impact on product development How ZF is building up a knowledge base of future technologies DEVELOPMENT

48 COMPETENCIES & CAREER OPPORTUNITIES ZF is using the Pilsen research and development center as a gateway to Central and Eastern Europe

SENSOR TECHNOLOGY

50 EYES ON EVERYTHING – ALWAYS Sophisticated sensor technology is a 48 prerequisite for autonomous driving Illustration: Dave Hänggi; Photos: Robert Guio, ETM-Verlag, Robert Guio, ETM-Verlag, Hänggi; Photos: Dave Illustration: Arndt, Dominik Gigler plainpicture/NaturePL/Ingo

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Intelligent Rolling Chassis A mobile future – made by ZF

Oasis is the visionary e-mobile jointly created by ZF and Swiss think tank Rinspeed to highlight the priorities for urban transportation in the future. These include: electric driveline, automated driving functions, integrated safety systems, plus exceptional agility and versatility – of both the concept vehicle itself and potential future applications based on the underlying platform. Oasis is the fi rst vehicle in the world to be based on ZF’s Intelligent Rolling Chassis (IRC), a ready-to-drive platform concept for urban passenger and transit vehicles. Producing zero local emissions, the IRC is exception- ally agile thanks to innovative front-axle kinematics. Intelligent networking means the chassis is already set up for tomorrow’s driverless city traffi c. This makes it the ideal platform for innovative vehicle concepts devised by both new and well-established mobility providers (turn to page 36 for more details).

The concept vehicle was presented at the NAIAS trade fair in the U.S. earlier this year. Photos: Rinspeed, Two Ring Photography Two Rinspeed, Photos:

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Buick Enclave

Forward-facing camera MOVING PEOPLE Airbags Brake components John Deere 6230R/6250R Anti-lock braking system (ABS) AND FREIGHT ECCOM 2.9 continuously variable transmission (CVT) Three rows of full-size seats and an impressive fi ve-star rating in the NCAP crash test are among Maximum performance, minimum weight: a perfect ZF takes care of mobility on roads, the many features that make the Buick Enclave description of the two new models in John Deere’s 6R railways, fields and in factories. luxury crossover SUV the ideal family car. tractor series, each capable of delivering up to 290 ZF has also made a signifi cant contribution to the horsepower. The ECCOM 2.9 CVT, customized by ZF These are some of the latest new vehicle’s active safety systems, in the form for higher performance, meshes tightly with the tractor vehicles and machines to of the forward-facing camera that identifi es other engines. The ECCOM 2.9 delivers engine power to the road users, as well as road markings, signs and wheels with almost zero losses – yet despite feature ZF technology. other vehicles. a vastly improved power- to-weight ratio, its size remains unchanged.

Auman EST-A

TraXon automatic transmission system ZF AIRTRAC

Following the development of a comprehensive range of applications for the Chinese market, ZF’s TraXon transmission system now shifts the gears in Foton’s new, heavy-duty Auman EST-A truck. Winner of the “Chinese Truck of the Year” award, the Auman EST-A also travels on ZF AIRTRAC, a rear-axle pneumatic suspension concept developed specifi cally for heavy goods vehicles. The air-sprung system protects road surfaces as well as cargo, and makes driving more comfortable.

Durmazlar Panorama

Single-stage hypoid transmission Porsche Panamera

8-speed dual-clutch transmission The new Panorama low-fl oor streetcar manufactured by BMW 5 Series Plug-in hybrid module Durmazlar is characterized by completely fl at fl oors and large Rear-axle drive windows on all sides. The streetcar is equipped with ZF’s Active Kinematics Control (AKC) Active Kinematics Control (AKC) 8-speed automatic transmission Continuous Damping Control (CDC) single-stage hypoid transmission, a single-wheel drive system 8-speed plug-in hybrid transmission Brake, chassis and electronic components optimized for low-level entrances and exits that enables eight 6-speed manual transmission Gearshift system Airbag and seatbelt systems motors to deliver evenly balanced traction torque to both rails. Damping systems Brake, chassis and electronic components Steering-wheel system Kuka KR 1000 titan ZF developed the transmission for installation in very confi ned Electric park brake Electronic Stability Control (ESC) RG 40 TP robot drive spaces, making the ZF’s fi rst 8-speed dual-clutch transmission has gone Airbag systems streetcar a highly Seatbelt systems into series production in the new Porsche Panamera. ZF’s RG 40 TP drive system delivers an acceleration torque of energy-effi cient, Gearshift styles range from fuel-effi cient (favoring low 20,220 newton meters and a torque of 40,000 newton meters. environmentally The agility to segue through inner-city traffi c, plus the power and engine speeds) through comfortably smooth to uncom- As a transmission, it fulfi ls the demanding conditions required friendly form of stability to execute high-speed maneuvers on the freeway. Vehicles promisingly dynamic, according to need. Fitted with to drive the Kuka KR 1000 titan, the world’s fi rst six-axis, heavy- urban transit. fi tted with AKC rear-axle tracking alignment perfectly fulfi l both of the optional plug-in hybrid module, which has a peak duty industrial robot with open kinematics. The robot is capable these very diff erent chassis requirements. Thanks to the ZF-built output of 100 kilowatts, the new sports transmission for of moving workpieces weighing up to 1,000 kilograms – such system, the rear wheels play an intelligent role in steering the car, rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicles is capable as steel beams or aircraft components – rapidly and precisely turning in the same direction as the front wheels at high speeds and of electrically boosting acceleration, and enables cars

over distances of up to 6.5 meters in any direction. & Company, 2016 Deere Motors, General KUKA, Durmazlar, Foton, Photos: Porsche Kraus, BMW AG/Daniel in the opposite direction at lower speeds. to run on all-electric power with zero local emissions.

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ZF Aftermarket New app delivers spare parts info

For customers of ZF Aftermarket, it’s now even easier to fi nd the right spare parts. Using the new ZF Part Finder app, customers can search through the entire spare parts Passenger airbags inventory of ZF Aftermarket’s established brands, including Sachs, Lemförder, TRW and Boge. And the app is interna- Better in-car protection tional, with contents tailored to each country. The app is compatible with iOS, Android, tablet PCs and smartphones, To minimize injuries to vehicle occupants resulting and is available right now for downloading free of charge from collisions, ZF is presenting new passenger airbag from app stores worldwide. concepts, as well as curtain airbags with additional V-shaped or U-shaped design features. They can help protect front-seat passengers very eff ectively from serious injury, even in the event of a frontal oblique impact on the vehicle’s left-hand side at 55 mph. The National Highway Traffi c Safety Ad mi nis tra tion (NHTSA) is c onsidering whether to add this functional test to the U.S. New Car Assessment Program (U.S. NCAP) for assessing new cars starting in model year 2019.

New technologies Joint venture with MTU for marine propulsion systems

In the future, ZF and Rolls-Royce Power Systems will work yachts. In the future, both companies will share more closely even more closely together on marine propulsion systems. For in the development of new technologies and products as they The offi cial opening of ZF‘s new corporate HQ in Friedrichshafen many years, perfectly matched combinations of MTU engines aim to provide customers with optimized propulsion solutions. took place in late fall 2016. 76,530 built by Rolls-Royce Power Systems and marine transmissions The two partners also intend to collaborate on joint marketing, square feet Photos: Photos: ZF, / Kräling Porsche built by ZF have been installed in a wide variety of ships and sales and service activities.

is the total area of ZF Forum’s glass facade – about the same size as a soccer pitch. The green area on the roofs of the corporate HQ building covers a total of 10,300 square meters (nearly 111,000 square feet). Race Engineering and Conekt

Two awards Smart use of synergies

Setting an impressive example At the start of 2017, ZF combined Race Engineering and Conekt to form a single business unit. Under the At the end of 2016, ZF received not one but two awards. First, the company was presented management of ZF Race Engineering, the new unit will with the “Top 500 Award” by media group WeltN24 and international consulting fi rm develop and manufacture products capable of meeting Accenture. This award honors corporations that succeed in sustainably increasing sales and special customer requirements. In terms of strategy, ZF profi ts. According to the jury’s summary, ZF is an “impressive example of how a company will become a full-service provider, acting as a single with a 100-year history can manage to be extremely successful under constantly changing source for motorsport technology, as well as products market conditions and despite fi erce competition.” and services for low-volume production runs, engineer- The American Chamber of Commerce in Germany (AmCham Germany) honored ZF ing, consulting and test purposes. Norbert Odendahl, and four other German companies with the prestigious Transatlantic Partnership Award. In CEO of ZF Race Engineering, emphasizes that “for our bestowing this award, the organization recognizes the success, adaptation and persistence long-term success, it is vital that we act as a single, of German companies investing in the U.S., holding up the award-winning companies as Great teamwork: products powerful unit in all of these niche markets.” outstanding role models and examples of close German-American relations. supplied by ZF and ZF TRW contribute to the success of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

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EN_10_ZF_Drive_01_2017 10 03.03.17 16:29 EN_11_ZF_Drive_01_2017 11 03.03.17 16:30 DIGITALIZATION

NO NEED TO FEAR THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION The onward march of digitalization affects us all – from individuals to globally active enterprises. While the resulting anxieties are understandable, history shows that technological disruption has always speeded up social development.

Text: Stefan Schrahe Illustration: Dave Hänggi

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1982 The fi rst commercially manufactured 4.6 % Compact Disc is produced. It contains a recording of Chopin waltzes played is the digital economy’s value-added by Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. contribution to Germany’s trade activities. And that’s just the start.

o doubt about it – business is society to remain autonomous and self- app – a fresh, juicy steak accompanied by undergoing a radical trans- determining for longer than ever before. a tasty salad. Indeed, the supplier’s algo- formation. The world’s larg- At the same time, the networking of digi- rithm already knows what we want before est media company doesn’t tal products and the use of “deep learning” we pick up the smartphone. produce any of its own algorithms are enabling digital devices to Ncontent (Facebook); the world’s largest climb ever steeper learning curves – to the Change always causes anxiety taxi company doesn’t own a single car benefi t of users everywhere. Using swarm Modern consumers are permanently on (Uber); the world’s largest provider of ac- intelligence, the new algorithms positively the move, networked, with a perfectly commodation doesn’t off er a single hotel transparent overview of everything. But bed (Airbnb). And yet the market value the very changes that are supposed to of overnight accommodation exchange make our everyday lives easier inevitably Airbnb is currently estimated at around Digitalization is arouse anxiety – even fear. Back in 1843, 25.5 billion dollars – meaning that just well-known German poet Heinrich Heine eight years after it was launched, the on- opening up amazing reacted to the opening of the Paris-Orléans line platform is worth 15 times more than new opportunities for railway by feeling “a spine-chilling horror the long-established Hyatt Group, which of the kind we always feel when the most owns more than 600 hotels in 50 countries farsighted, creative alarming, the most unexpected things and employs around 45,000 people. companies in the happen, with all their unforeseeable, These examples show that today, new incalculable consequences.” The poet’s ideas can be implemented faster and more mobility industry. strong reaction is understandable; at the easily than ever before. Cloud computing, time, doctors feared the human eardrum networked user groups and the blurring of would rupture at speeds over 20 miles per once clearly defi ned boundaries between suck up knowledge and experience, and hour. After all, in more than 200,000 years Milestones on the customers and suppliers are other factors we’re already seeing the benefi ts – when of human history, nobody had ever trav- road to digitalization that are helping this process along. New a smartphone’s Cloud-based voice control eled at such extreme velocities. technologies are enabling entrepreneurs software also understands dialects, for Today, the sheer pace of change is once to enter new markets with relatively little example, even though they were never ex- again causing anxiety and even fear – al- start-up capital. plicitly included in the program code. beit with signifi cant diff erences between But this dawning new age is not just Networking will soon enable cars, one part of the world and another. Even in transforming companies and business trucks and trains to drive themselves – New York and London, people talk about 1968 1973 1975 models – on many a shop fl oor, the most and enable robots to deliver packages to “German angst,” because 50 percent of The Advanced Research Project Agency Using Ethernet protocols, the Xerox The fi rst digital camera built by strenuous and diffi cult jobs are now han- the doorstep. And because more of us are Germans perceive digital innovations as Network (ARPANET), ancestor of the Alto – one of the very fi rst “personal Eastman Kodak takes 23 seconds to dled exclusively by robots. Robot vacuum working in fl exible digital workplaces, we dangerous – and 60 percent of Germans internet, is a U.S. Air Force project for computers” – is capable of sending capture an image. The camera weighs networking four U.S. universities. In 1969, standardized emails across a hard- four kilograms (nearly nine pounds) cleaners are appearing in every consumer also have more time to enjoy TV programs. believe the advance of digitalization will other institutions are also allowed to link wired local area network (LAN). The and it stores black-and-white photos electronics store. And very soon, robots As we relax on the terrace after work, we cost jobs. Fear of change is greatest where up to the network through minicomputers transfer rate is an impressive three on compact cassette. The photos like the Honeywell 316. The Arpanet can megabits per second – comparable are captured at a resolution of just will be ready to take on more household can make our evenings even more enjoy- people have settled comfortably into long- only transfer a few characters at a time. with the speed of Bluetooth today. 0.01 megapixels. chores, enabling individuals in an aging able by ordering – in real time, using an standing habits. Societies that are already

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1995 1999 Siemens develops a GSM data The IEEE 802.11a standard enables module for industrial applications, wireless communication, also known called the M1. This enables machines as wireless local area networking to communicate over wireless (WLAN). This allows free movement n etworks. The fi rst M1 module is within range of the wireless used for point-of-sale (POS) terminals, n etworking radio signal. vehicle telematics, remote m onitoring, and various tracing and tracking a pplications.

in the midst of the digital transformation modems and complicated web addresses process see things very diff erently. Ac- Together, has become an almost invisible part of our cording to a recent survey, 57 percent of globalization daily lives. Many of the things we do are Chinese are convinced that digitalization already internet-based, before we even will create new jobs and opportunities, and urbanization open our web browsers. Digital television, and 66 percent of respondents underlined play a key role Voice-over-IP telephony and modern GPS the benefi ts of digitalization. systems are all typical examples. These anxieties are essentially identical in accelerating to the fears aroused by processes of change the pace of Accompanying phenomena in earlier times. Thus the Silesian weavers Digitalization represents a new chapter tried to destroy the newfangled mechani- digitalization. in the history of industrialization. But it cal looms when they fi rst appeared in the is accompanied by two other phenomena 1840s. In a sense they were right, because that have also accelerated dramatically, their jobs soon disappeared in much the and without which digitalization would same way as typesetters’ jobs vanished dur- tion. Since the middle of the nineteenth be impossible to imagine: globalization ing the 1980s. But over the last 150 years century, not a single generation has lived and urbanization. Global connectivity is of industrialization, new jobs have always in exactly the same way as the previous a prerequisite for the business models es- emerged – usually more than compensat- one – a radical shift from the conformity poused by companies like Facebook, Air- ing for those that were lost. In anxious that previously characterized society. bnb, Amazon, Uber and eBay, all of which 1988 1991 1992 Germany, for example, the digital economy The steam engine was the fi rst thing to are building platforms that unite vendors With the advent of ISDN, analogue Finland launches the fi rst 2G mobile Tim Berners-Lee uploads the very already accounts for more than 4.6 percent transform – in a remarkably short time – and customers around the world. telephone networks are replaced by network. It uses digital signals fi rst photograph to the internet. of the country’s commercial value added, ways of life that had hardly changed for Urbanization is the second prerequisite digital technology for the very fi rst b etween mobile telephones and It shows parody pop group “Les time. This speeds up data transfers mobile a ccess points, instead of H orribles Cernettes (LHC),” founded embracing 92,000 companies and employ- centuries. The next major change was for digital success. Uber, Airbnb and gro- and makes it possible to conduct a a nalogue transmissions. Major by four of his c olleagues at the ing over one million workers – 10 times sparked by electricity in the early twen- cery delivery services would fi nd a very voicecall on one line while surfi ng the b enefi ts include enlarged system European O rganization for Nuclear web on another. Transnational Euro- capacity and the i ntroduction of data Research (CERN) in Geneva, more than the steel industry, about the tieth century. Then the microprocessor limited customer base outside urban envi- ISDN is introduced fi ve years later. services such as text messaging. Switzerland. same as the automotive industry, and more appeared in the 1970s, kicking off the ronments. And urbanization will become than the mechanical engineering industry. evolutionary “ever smaller, ever more even more important in the future. At the powerful” trend that has paved the way end of the nineteenth century, London Not really new – just much faster for today’s paradigm shift – digitalization. was the only city in the world with more Perhaps what’s really new is not so much Digitalization started with the internet, than fi ve million inhabitants. Nowadays, the digital transformation itself as the sud- which began its triumphal march some 20 some 12 percent of the world’s popula- denly accelerating pace of change associ- years ago. Since then, personal use of IT tion lives in 29 megacities, each with ated with it. There’s plenty of evidence to has reached saturation point, covering al- more than 10 million inhabitants. Since show that mankind has been engaged in most 85 percent of the population. Even 2008, more people have been living in a continuous process of transformation so, data streams are still showing exponen- towns and cities than in the countryside. since the start of the Industrial Revolu- tial growth. What fi rst began with beeping And a study by UN-Habitat – the United

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2000 2007 2010 2016 The Nokia 7110 is the world’s fi rst Apple-CEO Steve Jobs presents the At 120 million units, the production of Interactive speakers such as Google Home and internet-enabled mobile phone. The fi rst iPhone – and the smartphone’s digital cameras reaches its zenith. In Amazon Echo are capable of controlling all Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) multi-touch screen is a sensation. The subsequent years, entry-level camera household electronics by voice command. Roll means that websites can now be app-based operating concept opens models are increasingly replaced by up the blinds, switch on the lights, turn up the accessed by users on the move. up new a pplication opportunities for smartphones. heating – a spoken instruction is all it takes. The developers. At the same time, network various devices are interconnected by WLAN. operators establish the UMTS mobile % radio standard. Now 3G networks are 26 capable of transferring 100 times more of all employees who responded to data per second than ever before. a worldwide survey by online job exchange Monster believe that within soaring city traffi c levels, digital manage- technology. But Nokia failed to keep up the next 10 years, their jobs will ment systems are essential; by 2030, the with the rapid trend away from keypad- be done by arti cial intelligence. number of cars on the world’s roads will equipped mobile phones to smartphones, nearly double. Without automation and and in the space of just fi ve years, practi- networking, individual mobility in metro- cally disappeared from the marketplace. politan areas will soon be inconceivable. If they don’t want to suff er the same fate, automakers and their suppliers must Nothing for it: change – or lose constantly seek out new business models Those who don’t play an active part in that will enable them to anticipate trends this process of change will, quite simply, while at the same time benefi ting from lose. This is why automakers are no longer the experience and expertise embodied in exclusively concerned with vehicle manu- their core competency: mobility. Joint ven- facturing as the main source of value. They tures off er one of the most promising ways are transforming themselves into mobility forward, through cooperative agreements providers, setting up car-share fl eets and that benefi t both parties. developing apps for enabling users to fi nd the fastest routes between two places by The varying pace of digitalization all means of transport available – not just Building digital expertise, optimizing pro- cars. “The industry’s value added is shift- cessing power and investing in associated ing away from hardware toward software technologies don’t necessarily mean you and services,” confi rms Harald Krüger, have to make a complete break with the CEO of BMW. The automotive industry past. In certain parts of the world, indus- already knows how to interpret the many trialization has only just begun; in many examples of once-proud top dogs sinking of them, it will take years before the digi- into sudden obscurity. These unfortunates tal interconnectedness of all aspects of life miscalculated the dynamics of the trans- (let alone electromobility or autonomous formation process – the sheer speed of driving) will play the signifi cant role it is the shift from analogue to digital photog- set to play in the near future in the cities raphy, for instance, or the transition from of the industrialized nations. Nations Human Settlements Program – daisy-wheel typewriter to PC printer. Nobody is in any doubt that digitaliza- predicts that two thirds of Earth’s human The real challenge is knowing how to tion is transforming our society. But over population will live in cities by 2030. look outside the box – and that’s not just the last 150 years of industrialization, Naturally enough, urbanization also true of our current age of digitalization. change has become a normal part of ev- has an impact on our mobility. The need Back in 1967, for example, Finland’s lead- eryday life. Change demonstrates just how to preserve air quality, as well as the qual- ing manufacturer of rubber boots merged astonishingly adaptable our economic and ity of life in cities, is driving the transition with cable company Finnish Cable Works labor systems really are. Companies are to electrically powered transportation and and a paper factory, adopting the name also capable of taking advantage of such increasing the pressure to develop more Nokia. In 1981, the new company put change – indeed, they have no choice. To advanced electric vehicles. Routes are together Finland’s fi rst mobile telephone do so, they must actively seek to drive and steadily becoming shorter – for logistics network; within 25 years, it had become guide change, rather than allowing un- companies in particular. To cope with the world leader in telecommunication expected change to overwhelm them. ■

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SWELLING STREAM OF DATA Compared to the NAVIGATIONAL COMPUTER in the Apollo 11 spacecraft used for the 1969 moon landing, today’s We aren’t always aware of the growing influence of the digital revolution high-end smartphones on our daily lives. But the figures on this page quite clearly show work around 2,300 times faster, have 1 million times more RAM (at 4 GB) how drastically our lives have already been changed by digitalization. and up to 8 million times more storage space (at 256 GB), while also being at least 210 times lighter.

In the space of one hour, a LUXURY VEHICLE generates around After some , the era of 2017 40 YEARS 25 gigabytes of data. the VHS video recorder came to an end in July 2016, when the world’s Its computing power is equivalent to that of last remaining manufacturer 20 HOME COMPUTERS. – the Japanese Funai Group – fi nally ceased production.

According to forecasts, 2017 will see a

Graphics: Noun Project Graphics: worldwide average of 225,3 BILLION E-MAILS sent and received each day. Around 100 BILLION NERVE CELLS work together in the 50% In parallel with this development, human brain. To replicate just 1 percent was the growth in the the worldwide volume of traditional of what the brain does in a single second, number of videos letters has fallen drastically. the world’s fastest supercomputer in 2011 needed a whole 40 minutes. 0010010011000100110101010 010100010 1001000101001downloaded010100101010010010 11to00 TVs1000101 from010101 the00001 web0010101 1001000101010101000000000111000011000010010101 10101010Since0000110111 mid-2015010100100101001 in0101010 New1001010 Zealand,10 By 2030, computers are expected to be able in 2015. And the trend continues: mail carriers have only been on the to achieve performance similar to that of mankind’s 0010101100experts1001 0expect1010 this101 growth0001 1010101001010101010road1 3 days a week (instead of the “thinking organ”. to reach 260 percent by 2020. customary 6 days a week).

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Well-known DATING WEBSITE MATCH.COM has been online since 1995. Since then OVER ONE MILLION BABIES Between July 2008 and June 2016, have been born to 700,000 lines parents who fi rst met each other of SOFTWARE CODE typically appear 130 billion apps on the dating portal. in a modern car’s advanced brake control system – were downloaded from the Apple App Store. just 12 years ago, the fi gure was still 20,000 lines.

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Pedestrians suddenly walking into the road are EVERY DRIVER’S NIGHTMARE, because often there’s no time at all for evasive maneuvers or emergency braking.

nybody who left the house published in 1965, he detailed signifi cant and joined the road traffi c design fl aws in many U.S. automobiles, DIGITAL back in 1970 was taking kicking off an industry-wide debate that – from a modern perspec- eventually resulted in congressional hear- tive, at least – a major risk. ings and a string of new laws. Among InA that year, Europe’s dismal accident other things, no more convertibles were GUARDIAN statistics showed a record 85,000 road built in the U.S. for a period of six years, deaths. More than four decades later, because Nader had highlighted their lack the fi gure has fallen to just under 26,000, of protection in the event of rollovers. even though European traffi c and transit Suddenly, public interest focused on volumes have nearly tripled over the developments like crumple zones and ANGEL same period: today, traveling from A to seatbelts. Further passive safety inno- B is safer than ever before. But that’s no vations soon followed, such as seatbelt While technologies have made our roads safer, more than reason for complacency. Thanks to major pretensioners and airbags. Then “smart” 1,250,000 people are still killed in traffic accidents around advances in the development of passive driver-assistance systems started to pro- and active safety systems, integrative, in- liferate, such as the anti-lock braking the world every year. These deaths usually happen for terconnected safety concepts such as ZF’s system (ABS) and electronic stability X2Safe algorithm promise to take acci- control (ESC). The idea behind these ac- one of two reasons: failure to pay attention, or lack of dent avoidance to a whole new level. tive safety systems was not to mitigate the visibility. That’s where ZF’s X2Safe algorithm comes consequences of an accident, but to pre- Technologies save lives vent collisions in the fi rst place by means in, by warning road users of imminent collisions. The reason our roads are so much of targeted interventions in the vehicle’s safer is mainly due to the use of driving dynamics. technology. Over the fi rst de- These technical developments were Text: Stefan Schrahe cades of motorization, rising backed up by legislation and statutory Photos: Robert Guio accident rates were accepted regulations setting speed limits and blood as an inevitable corollary of alcohol limits, compelling manufacturers progress. But since the 1960s, to fi t headrests, and obliging drivers to use auto developers have aimed to seatbelts and child seats. Crash tests by make each new generation of ve- automobile clubs and organizations such hicles safer than the one before. as NCAP also raised consumer awareness U.S. attorney Ralph Nader played a of safety issues and helped ensure that key role in this realignment of priori- new cars without good safety ratings nev- ties. In his book “Unsafe at Any Speed,” er made it off the dealer’s lot.

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Protecting vehicle occupants The  ght The Vision Zero challenge Because even one road accident victim is against traf c one too many, ZF and other companies have set themselves an ambitious target, christened “Vision Zero.” The aim is to fatalities make roads and other means of travel so safe that serious injuries and traffi c fatali- 1930 First windshield made out of ties cease to exist. The term “Vision Zero” laminated glass (BMW DA 3) has its origins in occupational health and 1948 First car with shock-absorbing safety, and was fi rst used to refer to road steering wheel and two-point traffi c in Sweden in the late 1990s. Vi- seatbelt (Tucker Torpedo, U.S.) sion Zero is based on the realization that Connected via the Cloud, X2Safe eff ortlessly handles 1959 First three-point seatbelt human beings make mistakes. This is typical hazardous situations why highly complex systems such as road – like this one. (Volvo PV 544) traffi c require technologies that prevent 1959 First car with collapsible steering such mistakes from having life-threaten- column, non-deforming passen- ing consequences. ger compartment with crumple Over the last 40 years, vehicle occu- zone, and side-impact protection pants in particular have benefi ted from (Mercedes-Benz W 111) all kinds of safety improvements. The risks to weaker road users, however, 1966 Owners of new cars in the U.S. such as pedestrians and cyclists, remain required to wear seatbelts more or less unchanged. They account for 1966 First production vehicle with around half of all traffi c fatalities. Chil- electromechanical anti-lock dren, young people and young adults are b raking system (Jensen FF, among the groups most at risk in road United Kingdom) traffi c. According to fi gures published by Cyclists travel at higher speeds, the World Health Organization (WHO), FURTHER REDUCING THE 1968 Headrests fi tted as standard for fi rst time (BMW 2500) some 500 children die every day in road WINDOW FOR REACTING accidents. And among young people aged to imminent collisions. Installed on 1978 Introduction of electronic anti- between 15 and 29, road accidents are ac- lock braking systems (ABS) tually the most common cause of death. smartphones or smartwatches, For the last few years, the ubiquitous X2Safe issues timely warnings. 1980 First car fi tted with airbags smartphone has created an additional risk (Mercedes-Benz S-Class) by distracting road users. Today, an entire 1995 First production car fi tted generation walks down city streets around with electronic stability control the world with eyes permanently fi xed on before they (Mercedes-Benz S 600) the screens of their mobile phones. have made visual contact. This means that X2Safe 1996 Introduction of Brake Assist Always online: from risk to opportunity detects hazardous situations faster than 2004 ABS becomes mandatory in all “And that’s what we took as the starting either camera or radar systems. The al- new cars in the European Union point for our product concept. X2Safe col- gorithm eff ectively anticipates collisions lects motion data from mobile phone us- before they occur. “With X2Safe, the risk 2011 Electronic stability control ers and vehicles connected to the system, associated with being permanently on- becomes mandatory in all new and uses it to attain a level of safety that Find out how X2Safe line is turned into a safety advantage,” ex- cars in the European Union works in practice by couldn’t be achieved without networking,” watching our infor- plains Wiklinska. says Dr. Malgorzata Wiklinska, head of ZF mative video. The artifi cial intelligence embedded in Denkfabrik, where X2Safe originated. In the self-learning system is used to analyze or decides to cross the road in a hazardous the Cloud, X2Safe uses these individual the behavior of every single road user – spot, X2Safe rates this behavior as particu- motion profi les to calculate whether a and based on this analysis, to decide on larly “unsafe” and assumes that the poten- collision with another road user is immi- a suitable response. So if, for example, a tial risk to the individual is higher than it nent, and alerts all those involved even pedestrian ignores red lights at a junction should be. Context is also important: in

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Drivers with X2Safe on board enjoy Car eWallet GREATER SAFETY IN BLIND SPOTS, AUTHORIZE which are very widespread in cities Automotive payments and take many different forms. Parcel In the world of electric vehicles, range and charging cycles are deliveries Carsharing key issues. But even after you’ve found a convenient charging

station, paying for it may not be so straightforward – the many EARN diff erent payment systems can prove frustrating. Now the new,

blockchain-based Car eWallet developed by ZF and partners is SPEND making the payment process much easier – and more fl exible, Recharging because Car eWallet also handles other mobility-related services Online Battery like tolls, parking fees and carsharing. Once you’ve made a Freeway tolls transfers sharing convenient online transfer from your home PC or via a dedicated app, Car eWallet is authorized to make payments autonomously up to a certain limit. So if, for example, you have to pay a toll MANAGE charge during your journey to the offi ce, the car will take care of it automatically, saving you time-wasting waits in queues. The technology behind Car eWallet is known as “blockchain”, a well-established concept that makes it possible to perform business transactions in near-real time without recourse to Scan the QR code for central servers or trusted third parties. Blockchain technology more details of how is regarded as very secure. Car eWallet works.

Openmatics Dashboard: Managing vehicle  eets

Carsharing is a growing trend. But even sharing has to be Dashboard, a web app. Using a digital map, fl eet operators can paid for. And this is much more diffi cult if your vehicle fl eet is check the locations of all their fl eet vehicles at a glance. They a mixed one, because all automotive manufacturers use their can also call up details of vehicle utilization, mileage and avail- own telematics systems. Which is why Openmatics now off ers a ability in real time. Information on gas-tank fi ll levels (or in the solution for passenger cars, based on an independent platform case of electric vehicles, battery charge levels), as well as error that is already well established in the world of commercial messages reminding operators to plan for vehicle services and addition to motion data, X2Safe can also retrofi t to any vehicle on the market today. vehicles. The Openmatics system transmits vehicle-specifi c data resulting downtime, are additional early-warning features that process information on high risk factors By doing so, we could create an interac- to a secure, Cloud-hosted database which users can access via help operators manage their fl eet schedules more effi ciently. such as invisible streetcars or blind spots tive safety network that would become near bus stops, and incorporate this in- increasingly eff ective as more and more formation into its situation assessments. For ZF, this Cloud-based algorithm represents another building block in the intelligent digitalization of mechanical “Applications components. Torsten Gollewski, head of Advanced Development at ZF, believes like X2Safe are that “X2Safe underscores – as do other bringing us closer digital developments by ZF – our com- mitment to playing an important role in to Vision Zero.” autonomous driving. As vehicles become Dr. Malgorzata Wiklinska, increasingly connected, we’re starting to head of ZF Denkfabrik progress beyond simple warning func- Car rental: Carsharing/taxis/OEM: Electric fl eets: tions to direct, automatic interventions Returning vehicles just got a whole lot Giving you a permanent overview of your No more fl at batteries! Dashboard is the – right through to evasive maneuvers or faster: the Dashboard app provides entire fl eet, Dashboard is a fully rounded ideal tool for optimizing the utilization of full emergency braking.” people and vehicles are connected to it.” immediate access to all vehicle-related fl eet management tool. Vehicle owners your electrically powered fl eet. The app From Wiklinska’s perspective, road Thus the revolutionary X2Safe algorithm information. For example, the status of a can keep an eye on everything they need shows the status of each vehicle’s battery users could already start to benefi t from marks a signifi cant milestone along the car’s gas tank can be checked as soon to know about their vehicles’ utilization, charge, as well as the shortest route to X2Safe today. “Our technology is easy to road to achieving Vision Zero. ■ as it enters the parking garage. mileage and availability in real time. the nearest recharging point.

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EN_26_ZF_Drive_01_2017 26 15.03.17 15:24 EN_27_ZF_Drive_01_2017 27 03.03.17 16:39 DIGITALIZATION MINDS IN or gaming fans, the Nvidia brand as well as lidar, ultrasound and radar sen- But the benefi ts aren’t solely reserved for has been synonymous with sors. At the same time, self-driving vehi- cars. The key concept here is “automated high-performance graphics ever cles are constantly learning, with every operations”, based on the realization that since its products fi rst appeared mile teaching a new lesson. And fi nally, an electronic component capable of han- MACHINES in 1999. The GeForce 256 was they’re sharing their new experiences dling the stresses and strains found in Fone of the fi rst dedicated 3D graphics with each other via the Cloud. passenger cars is also ideal for use in First fruit of a joint venture between ZF processors (GPU) for computer games. products in other industries. “Working Value-adding synergies and AI computing company Nvidia, the Since then, Nvidia has succeeded in do- with Nvidia, we’re bringing the super- ing what no other company apart from Now ZF is working with Nvidia to develop computer standards of performance re- ZF ProAI processor also represents a Intel has done: turn an innocuous piece of a system that will make artifi cial intelli- quired for artifi cial intelligence not just to hardware tucked away in the innards of gence available to the mobility industry. cars and commercial vehicles, but also to major milestone on the road to the system into a high-value brand item. all kinds of industrial applications,” con- automated driving. Today’s PC desktop builders use the latest fi rms Dr. Stefan Sommer, ZF CEO. generation of GeForce processors as a ma- “We’re bringing Just what Nvidia’s technology is really jor selling point for their systems. capable of was demonstrated by company Text: Stefan Schrahe Meanwhile GPUs have powered their supercomputer founder Huang in April of last year in San way into new fi elds, far removed from performance to José, California. He fed 20,000 images of computer gaming. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun paintings from the Romantic era into an Huang believes his technology will quite vehicles and industrial AI-based computer. Once this had been simply “reinvent our world.” That’s be- applications.” done, the deep learning machine proved cause the GPUs that Nvidia has developed capable of creating an original picture on

for processor-intensive 3D gaming over Dr. Stefan Sommer, its own, albeit a picture that was clearly in the last 20 years are now playing a key CEO, ZF Friedrichshafen AG the same style as those it had just “seen”. role in what is probably the most impor- Although the source images were catego- tant IT development since the invention of rized, the computer was not given any in- the internet: artifi cial intelligence, or AI. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) formation on the subject of each painting. 2017, ZF unveiled the company’s fi rst sys- It had to work that out for itself. Deep Learning: full speed ahead! tem for automated freeway driving, based Huang believes this development is the AI is already used in many applica- on Nvidia’s AI. ZF ProAI enables vehicles start of a new age. “We believe that deep tions, such as smartphone voice control to “understand” their surroundings by us- learning represents a whole new comput- software capable of adapting to user in- ing deep learning technology to process ing model. The results are quite simply su- put. The very latest innovation is “Deep and interpret data from sensors and cam- perhuman.” ZF developer Gollewski views Learning”, a way of enabling AI systems eras. The two partners are also working on the two companies’ collaboration as an based on manmade “neural networks” to solutions for highly automated and fully opportunity to make a quantum leap for- learn without any human intervention at automated driving. ward: “Our joint venture with Nvidia gives all – something for which conventional At the heart of ZF ProAI is a processor us access to a world of digital possibilities computer architectures simply aren’t fast developed specifi cally for automotive ap- in a totally new dimension!” ■ enough. But the calculations needed to plications – simply installing an ultrafast train an AI system are not dissimilar to PC processor in a car isn’t an option, as those required to generate 3D worlds in Torsten Gollewski, head of ZF Advanced computer games, based on mathematical Development, explains. “Temperatures models that must be reiterated billions of in automotive environments range from times. And that’s where Nvidia comes in. m inus 30 to plus 80 degrees Celsius. Other “Neural nets fi tted with our GPUs can stress factors include humidity, vibration be trained orders of magnitude faster,” ex- and high G-forces – conditions which con- plains Jaap Zuiderveld, head of Nvidia’s ventional PCs and games consoles aren’t European operations. This discovery is designed to handle.” laying the foundations for an application ZF supplies ZF ProAI as a system that that will transform all our lives: automated can built into a vehicle, updated via the driving. In order to make correct decisions Cloud, and upgraded with additional in heavy traffi c, self-driving vehicles must functions throughout the lifetime of the process vast quantities of data in real time vehicle. Series production of the new ZF Heavyweight processing power squeezed into a compact, secure package. The ZF ProAI system

Photos: MMJ Studio, Sean Rodwell MMJ Studio, Photos: – data streaming from dozens of cameras, ProAI system is scheduled for 2018. was unveiled at the start of the year.

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STRONGEST TOGETHER Digitalization is not only changing vehicles, but also the role of automotive suppliers. Chief Digital Officer Mamatha Chamarthi and Head of Advanced Engineering Torsten Gollewski are actively shaping these changes at ZF and building up a network of partners.

Text: Johannes Winterhagen

“We need to employ In the automotive industry, digitalization is a digital to innovate all mega trend. What does this mean for ZF? Chamarthi: Digitalization at ZF will be a long and aspects of our business.” exciting journey. It is going to be massive cultural Mamatha Chamarthi, transformation, in addition to our products, services Chief Digital Offi cer and technology transformation. The whole company needs to be engaged in this eff ort. Gollewski: Networked systems that extend far beyond vehicles are becoming increasingly widespread; for example, a market for autonomous transport systems We need to employ digital to innovate all aspects of has arisen as a result of the requirement to rapidly our business – products and services, product devel- deliver orders placed online, while new mobility con- opment, workplaces, factories, and supply chains. cepts envision robot taxis. And the question we’re Gollewski: The X2Safe safety algorithm demonstrates asking is: could we not base both these types of vehi- the huge potential advantages of using networked sys- cles on the same, standardized technology? The lines tems in road traffi c; these systems even enable us to between our conventional market segments – cars on protect road users who are not in their own vehicles, the one hand, commercial vehicles on the other – are such as pedestrians and cyclists. The algorithm was becoming increasingly blurred. developed by ZF’s in-house think tank, by the way. Mamatha Chamarthi Chamarthi: At the end of last year, there was a ter- gained her fi rst degree in English and Business In which areas will digital technologies fi rst rible accident on the Interstate 96 near where I live. A Administration in her native India. After studying computer science and business administration become fully established? pile-up of more than 40 vehicles in snowy conditions in the U.S., she began work as a programmer Chamarthi: We will transform our business across caused three people to lose their lives. I am certain at DaimlerChrysler in 1996. There she swiftly rose up the ladder, assuming responsibility for all three horizons. First, by safeguarding our core to that these sorts of accidents can be prevented with integrating the IT systems of the two merging make our existing products and processes smarter intelligent, networked systems. companies as a project manager, and then, as program manager, separating them again when and better. Then by enriching our core, by which I the companies parted ways. In 2010, Chamarthi mean adding new features to existing products using What does “intelligent” mean in this context? took charge of IT at an energy company. She returned to the automotive industry as TRW’s digital technologies to, for example, create an uptime Gollewski: As a matter of fact, we’re talking more and IT manager four years later. In summer 2016, service off ering based on predictive maintenance for more about “artifi cial intelligence.” Research has now Chamarthi became ZF’s Chief Digital Offi cer. wind turbine transmissions. And fi nally, by extending progressed to such an extent that AI systems are be- or redefi ning our core by creating a new product or coming practicable and marketable. service that is digitally enabled, such as the X2Safe Chamarthi: Soon we will be accompanied by digi-

safety algorithm. tal assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, all the time. Felix Kästle Photo:

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Aren’t these kinds of developments actually the innovate in an agile way with traditional and non- automotive manufacturers’ job? traditional partners to create the best products. As an Gollewski: Increasingly, automotive manufacturers example, we have established a strategic partnership are showing a tendency to transform themselves into with a digital start-up accelerator with a worldwide mobility service providers. This means that we, as a presence called Plug and Play. This partnership will large supplier, have to assume more responsibilities help connect start-ups worldwide to ZF ideas and in other areas. And yet there are nuances – not just business opportunities. We will work with traditional between one manufacturer and another, but also be- (e.g. IBM, Microsoft), non-traditional (e.g. start-ups) tween one vehicle and another – that present us with and our internal networks to build the Digital ZF. extremely exciting challenges and also make us a very attractive employer. What happens next? Gollewski: If we identify major potential in a start-up’s Does ZF already have the necessary software idea, we systematically foster it – in some cases, by developers on board? investing in it. We founded Zukunft Ventures GmbH Chamarthi: We are currently going through a mas- for precisely this reason. That’s not to say that these sive expansion of our development capacity across investments are our way of relieving the start-ups of the world. We are tapping into the Indian software their entrepreneurial responsibilities. Last year, we engineering market to establish a capacity of 2,500 took a 40-percent stake in Ibeo, a supplier special- engineers by 2020 at our recently opened Tech Cen- izing in laser sensors; that’s a good example of our ter in Hyderabad, India. We expect three quarters of approach. these engineers to work on developing new software Chamarthi: At the same time, we are expanding our capabilities for ZF. open innovation network, where we work in partner- Gollewski: It is also our job to continuously refi ne our ships with high-tech companies. An example of this own development methods. Think about functions is the blockchain “Car eWallet” payment system, fa- based purely on software which could be retrospec- cilitating payments for charging electric cars, which tively “uploaded” to vehicles. All technological inno- we are developing together with various partners. vations go hand in hand with process innovations. The blockchain technology on which the system is based can also be used to enable wireless software Torsten Gollewski Does digital networking also benefi t ZF’s conven- updates in vehicles. studied communications engineering and tional products? started his career with an automotive s upplier, Gollewski: In the long term, it will benefi t all of them; at How do you coordinate all these individual ideas? before moving to Audi in 2000. There he played a signifi cant role in setting up Audi Electronics the moment, quite a few. The TraXon commercial vehi- Chamarthi: Several successful activities have existed Venture GmbH. At the end of 2013, Gollewski cle transmission, for example, with its GPS connection for a long time in the diff erent divisions and business became general manager of Automotive Safety Technologies GmbH, a joint venture between and navigation data interface, is capable of anticipat- units. The ZF think tank is also constantly coming up Audi and Andata. He assumed his role as Head ing future maneuvers, thus greatly improving fuel effi - with new ideas. As Chief Digital Offi cer, it is my task of Advanced Development at ZF midway through 2016, and is also CEO of the newly founded ciency. Its intelligent PreVision GPS shift strategy is able to orchestrate and streamline our portfolio of invest- Zukunft Ventures GmbH. to recognize uphill and downhill inclines in advance, ments, helping us move from a disconnected portfolio and considers these when selecting shifting points. to a streamlined portfolio. This will ultimately help us become a technology leader in automated driving, When will the Internet of Things make its way into electrifi ed drives and integrated safety. ZF’s production plants? Chamarthi: We are already extensively testing “In- Is there a comprehensive plan for ZF’s digital A rtifi cial intelligence will help these services under- dustry 4.0” technologies. Our plant in Saarbrücken, transformation? stand our natural language. where more than 1,200 types of passenger car trans- Chamarthi: We already have a great foundation and Gollewski: Artifi cial intelligence is especially impor- missions are produced, off ers a good impression of a number of initiatives underway. We need to create “In today’s market tant for highly automated or even autonomous driv- this. Digitalization is making a signifi cant contribu- further success by building on the existing momen- ing, because conventional computing processes are tion there, by further increasing productivity and tum. We are currently working on a long-term road- environment, speed is always deterministic and unable to deal with resid- process quality. As an example, inventory visibility of map. But nevertheless, we have to prepare our organi- a key factor.” ual uncertainties. But just like human drivers, highly every single component in real time helps us reduce zation to become more agile and prepared to respond automated vehicles must be able to anticipate what the overall inventory levels we have to carry in the to the rapidly changing environment and technology Torsten Gollewski, is likely to happen in the next few seconds without plant. This saves us money. landscape of the digital world. Head of Advanced Development working from a laboriously predefi ned script that in- Gollewski: In today’s market environment, speed is a cludes every conceivable scenario. Reproducing this Can ZF do all this by itself? key factor. This is why it’s a good idea for us to work in ability using conventional software would take an age Chamarthi: We will certainly NOT do this all by our fl exible networks. Our task in Advanced Engineering in programming and testing, which is why we’re us- ourselves. We will work to combine our domain ex- is to go on integrating new ideas into an all- embracing ing self-learning algorithms in our ProAI control sys- pertise with digital technologies – social, mobile, system, so we can meet all our automotive customers’

tem for highly automated vehicles. ZF/Albert Kunzer Photo: analytics, Cloud, Internet of Things – and openly expectations and requirements. ■

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of thinking – from inside and outside the A helping hand for start-ups helped more than 2,000 start-ups on their THE SILICON VALLEY FACTOR company. One approach is embodied in Another strategic step into the future is way over the past decade, and is already ZF subsidiary Zukunft Ventures GmbH, ZF’s joint venture with Plug and Play, a familiar with the auto industry; its German set up in 2016 to enable the company to start-up accelerator based in Sunnyvale in arm is working closely with auto manufac- How do you combine the long-term mindset of a well-established technology invest in other fi rms. “We off er start-ups California’s famed Silicon Valley. The col- turer Daimler and the University of Stutt- company with the creative spirit of a business start-up? ZF shows how: in particular an opportunity to raise extra laborative venture with Plug and Play is gart on the “Startup Autobahn” project. investment capital. In return, we gain im- And now ZF has joined the party. by setting up a new company, Zukunft Ventures GmbH, and entering into a proved access to viable, highly competitive Once a potential partner has been iden- joint venture with start-up accelerator Plug and Play. technologies,” is how Torsten Gollewski tifi ed and contacted, it’s often only a short describes the win-win concept. The fact Joint ventures or step to an actual project. “ZF can bene fi t that Gollewski is ZF’s head of Advanced from working with start-ups in various Text: Andreas Neemann Development as well as CEO of Zukunft equity stakes ways,” says Torsten Gollewski. Over many Ventures GmbH shows how closely these create win-win years of working in the auto industry, he functions are intertwined. The company has built up extensive experience of col- he pace of change in the auto customers expect the latest models to from the Cloud and automatically installed has already made several investments, in- situations laborating with fl edgling technology com- industry is accelerating. Face- appear after just 12 months – a two-year- in their parked “hardware” overnight, cluding a 40-percent interest in Hamburg- for both partners panies. In Gollewski’s view, key benefi ts lifted and brand-new vehicle old smartphone is positively antique. ready for use the very next morning. based Ibeo Automotive Systems. Together, include unconventional thinking, creative models roll into car dealers’ Now the automotive and electronics ZF and Ibeo will develop a new genera- involved. new processes and shorter, faster progress showrooms and out to custom- industries are converging. Increasingly, Updating cars via the Cloud tion of lidar sensors for the auto industry. from initial idea to marketable product. Ters at ever shorter intervals. Nowadays, connected cars are the norm; software for Software as a growing proportion of the Lidar (or rather, LiDAR, short for “Light This is why it is important that collabora- very few manufacturers wait for the usual vehicles is becoming a major innovation product mix; shorter innovation cycles; Detection And Ranging”) is essential for ZF’s response to the challenge of fi nding tion with start-ups shouldn’t be restricted eight years before bringing a new model driver. Tesla has already shown the way for- new business models – all these develop- autonomous driving. ZF has also taken and fi ltering the many business start-ups to the Advanced Development unit. ZF’s di- to market. But the industry’s shortening ward. Owners anxious to use the carmak- ments are impacting technology suppliers a 40-percent stake in software specialist that could be relevant to the company’s visions are also embracing this stimulating development cycles, currently down to er’s new Autopilot driver-assist function like ZF. The company promises to deliver Doubleslash in Friedrichshafen. ZF has multifaceted technology-focused activities. opportunity; it is they, after all, who are around fi ve years, are still eternities com- didn’t have to upgrade to a new model, or intelligent mechanical systems that enable been working with close neighbor Double- The Californian fi rm has been actively in- responsible for series production at ZF pared to the ferociously quick product even take their cars back to the workshop. vehicles to think, see and act. But to do slash for several years, primarily in the volved in start-up accelerator programs for – and ultimately, for the time it takes to

cycles in the electronics industry. Here, The new technology was downloaded so, ZF needs innovations and new ways istockphoto.com Photo: fi eld of vehicle networking. years, all over the world. Plug and Play has bring fi nished products to market. ■

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ZF’s Intelligent Rolling Chassis shows THE EXTREME FLEXIBILITY that this design approach will bring to future transport systems.

A solid basis for any number of mobility concepts: the Intelligent Rolling Chassis.

The Rinspeed Oasis (right) is the fi rst vehicle to be built on the Intelligent Rolling Chassis. The foldaway steering wheel (below) was designed by ZF, like many other components in the concept vehicle.

noon, so for your trip home, you once again book a car share. But this time you choose a convertible with a little more horsepower and classic manual steering, so you can drive yourself back on the highway. After all, why should the car always have all the fun?

One chassis – endless design options Is this all just a fanciful vision of urban mobility? Al- though some of the details still need to be refi ned, ONE PLATFORM – this future may be approaching more rapidly than 1,000 many of us would believe. After all, the Intelligent Rolling Chassis (IRC) developed independently by ZF is already an operational piece of technology. ZF’s ready-to-drive platform concept off ers a decisive ad- vantage to mobility providers of all stripes, from well- POSSIBILITIES established automakers to scrappy new start-ups. They just need to add a few ingredients of their own ZF’s ready-to-drive Intelligent Rolling Chassis is the perfect starting point for – a battery system, a body and a customized interior, cooking up tomorrow’s ultra-versatile mobility solutions – just add the right perhaps – and voilà! Their unique, all-electric transit medium is ready to roll. The Rinspeed Oasis, the fi rst ingredients for a vehicle that’s entirely to the customer’s taste. Text: Achim Neuwirth vehicle to be based on the IRC concept, has shown how quick and easy it is to build attractive, reliable, fully functional electric vehicles on the ZF platform. s this what the future of mobility will look like? both traveling to work. And thanks to the electric And if the resulting vehicle is expected to off er auto- Every morning, your self-driving breakfast ser- driveline, you’re not disturbed by any loud engine mated driving, an especially well integrated passen- vice delivers hot coff ee, smoothies and fresh pas- noise. As you get out, you tell the car to fold away the ger protection system, and intelligent HMI features, tries. Then a driverless carsharing vehicle takes table and seats and head over to the furniture store to ZF off ers a full range of system solutions to make it the kids to school while you’re being chauff eured pick up your new lounge chair, then wait in front of all possible. Even so, the technology company is not Ito the offi ce – in another self-driving rental car, natch. your building with the purchase – where it can also planning to go head-to-head with OEM automakers You ordered a vehicle equipped with two facing, fold- be used as a mobile drop-box for any packages that – rather, ZF is aiming to become a stronger indus- away bench seats and a table in the middle, so you might be delivered to your neighbors. The weather try partner than ever before. This can only work to

and your coworker can hold a meeting while you’re report forecasts glorious sunshine during the after- Rinspeed ZF, Photos: everybody’s advantage in an era which automotive

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EN_36_ZF_Drive_01_2017 36 03.03.17 16:52 EN_37_ZF_Drive_01_2017 37 03.03.17 16:52 MOBILITY CONCEPT

Electric compact car Electric delivery van Self-driving car Driverless transit system

experts unanimously describe as “the greatest trans- Knowledgeable observers will swiftly appreciate the The IRC’s secret sauce is the Data sheet formation since the invention of the motor car.” IRC’s many ingenious features. At the rear, the IRC INTELLIGENT INTERCONNECTION is equipped with ZF’s Electric Twist Beam (eTB), a of mechanical components in the Intelligent Rolling Intelligent, connected mechanical systems torsion-beam axle incorporating two powerful, clean- Speaking of change and the future, it’s worth men- running, wheel-mounted electric motors. And at the steering, driveline and chassis systems Chassis (basic model) tioning that the basic idea, as well as the term “rolling front of the chassis, you’ll fi nd an innovative inde- by the electronic control unit (ECU). chassis,” have deep roots. From the 1920s to the 1950s, pendent suspension system that interacts with ZF’s The IRC could also act as the platform both were popular and widespread in the auto motive electromechanical power steering system – in such a for a driverless Defi nition industry – and that’s still the case today for commer- way that the vehicle has a steering angle of up to 80 transport container. Highly versatile platform concept for urban cial vehicles such as trucks and buses. The more mod- degrees. That’s 50 percent more than the maximum electric vehicles. els and variants can be built on a given platform, the steering angle off ered by conventional front axles to- more attractive it becomes for vehicle manufacturers day. Thus the Intelligent Rolling Chassis gives every Dimensions to order the whole interconnected complex of chas- vehicle constructed on the platform – whether in- Variable: from subcompact car size up to compact sis, driveline and suspension, together with steering tended for transporting goods or passengers – a much car size. and braking systems, as a single unit – provided that higher degree of agility. Turning and parking in con- unit is supplied by proven specialists like ZF. What’s fi ned or congested spaces becomes child’s play. ZF driveline more, the technology company has infused the new, Electric motor concept: fl exible IRC platform with something that sets it apart The applied art of connectivity Wheel-mounted, permanent-magnet synchronous from earlier rolling chassis and will carry it forward When the wheels of a vehicle built on the IRC are motors (other options available) into the future: intelligence. As the word “intelligent” turned to the limit – which in this case means almost Peak output: 2 x 40 kW in its name implies, the IRC incorporates all the latest perpendicular to the direction of travel – the steer- Torque (rear axle): 1,400 newton meters advances in mobility technology. ing axle at the front and the driven axle at the back Speed (maximum): 21,000 rpm must work together in clever ways to enable the ve- Transmission: Single-speed transmission integratedgrated hicle to drive off from standstill. This is made possible into the motor housing by the torque vectoring function that distributes the power from the electric motors between the two rear ZF chassis wheels on an as-needed basis, so they can actively as- Front axle: Dual-control-arm independent sist with the turning motion as the vehicle starts to suspension with steering angle of up to 80 degreesgrees accelerate. The function itself is located in the IRC’s Rear axle: Axle system with built-in electric drives.rives. electronic control unit or ECU – the electronic “brain” Steering: Electromechanical power steering (EPS)EPS) that connects together all the systems in the chassis. As a matter of fact, this ECU, designed and built by Performance ZF, manages all aspects of the driving strategy, includ- Based on example of Rinspeed Oasis: ing all longitudinal and transverse dynamic functions is fl at as a pancake. For obvious reasons, this type of Acceleration (0 –62 mph): approx. 9 seconds and even energy recovery during deceleration. It also fl at-fl oor design is also known as a skateboard chas- Top speed: 93 mph (150 km/h) has all the interfaces necessary for advanced driver- sis. And it means the IRC really can accommodate all assistance systems, making the IRC into a very attrac- the interior functions and vehicle concepts described tive plug-and-play platform for highly automated or above in our vision of the future – and more. It can driverless transporters. be used as the starting point for trendy two-seaters

The interior layout Intelligence is the key factor defi ning the IRC’s like the Rinspeed Oasis, or for a convertible, a self- of a vehicle based chassis, which is more than just a mechanical con- driving taxi, or even an automated electric transport on the IRC is just as outstandingly fl ex- nection between the innovative driveline and suspen- container that can reliably deliver groceries or pack-

ible as its body. (2) istockphoto.com Photos: sion on the front and rear axles. The fl oor of the IRC ages along the last mile of an urban delivery route. ■

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EN_38_ZF_Drive_01_2017 38 03.03.17 16:52 EN_39_ZF_Drive_01_2017 39 03.03.17 16:52 LOGISTICS

Delivery robots DELIVERY 4.0 By land – or More demanding customers and new technologies 1 are changing the game in the logistics industry. by air? We take a peek at what the future may bring. In the near future, could it be that packages will arrive at our homes by air, rather than by delivery van? Online retail giants such as Amazon, as well as parcel services Text: Melanie Stahr like Deutsche Post DHL, are already testing airborne Illustrations: ETM Verlag delivery by drone in selected areas. Even so, Professor Dr. Uwe Clausen at Fraunhofer IML, who served as the study’s scientifi c director, remains skeptical about the widespread use of such airborne solutions. “Drones Autonomous deliveries: in rural will never be the standard delivery vehicle over the last areas, driverless mile,” he says. “There are too many points against them, robots will soon be delivering parcels such as airspace safety risks and local residents’ desire to the doorstep. for peace and privacy.” It is more likely that companies will turn to driverless delivery robots, especially in rural areas. But this doesn’t mean that delivery drones have no future – they may be useful for making express deliveries in, for example, urban areas with overbur- dened infrastructures. Similarly, drones may be the ideal solution for making deliveries in isolated regions not yet served by more conventional methods of transportation.

Autonomous driving Humans and robots making he customer is king – even on the The challenges facing the booming par- internet. Here, where consum- cel delivery market are especially visible deliveries together ers are no longer constrained on inner-city streets. Individual delivery by traditional brick-and-mortar preferences, environmental and noise re- According to the ZF study, the “last mile” prices. Parcel delivery service Hermes is Tstore opening hours, they can place orders strictions, delivery traffi c regulations and will undoubtedly become more automated. already testing the use of driverless delivery around the clock. And now they would supply-chain safety standards are all com- Solutions will range from driverless delivery robots capable of carrying a payload of also like to free the delivery process from ing together to reshape the playing fi eld robots to trucks that automatically steer up to 15 kilograms over distances of up to traditional time constraints. No longer are for logistics fi rms – who still face the same themselves to warehouse loading docks. fi ve kilometers. But even in such futuristic we talking about delivery in two to three pressure to cut costs and innovate. How is For direct deliveries, driverless vehicles scenarios, delivery drivers won’t become working days, or by overnight express – the industry responding to these changes, represent an effi cient solution that meets obsolete. In urban areas, one can imagine now we’re looking at delivery on the same and which trends are likely to become You can download the growing customer demand and higher delivery processes in which a self-driving ZF Future Study here: day, or in a matter of hours. Statistics clear- standards impacting the last few meters 2 delivery frequencies. It is increasingly dif- vehicle automatically follows the delivery ly show the growing popularity of online of the delivery chain? These questions fi cult to fi nd drivers willing to deliver to rural person while the latter focuses on handing shopping: in 2015, three billion packages are addressed by ZF in collaboration with The last mile of the delivery areas. In such cases, the use of automated over the parcels and interacting with process will become increasingly package transporters will help make it pos- were dispatched in Germany alone – that’s the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow automated, with self-driving recipients, for whole new levels of one billion more than in 2005. This trend and Logistics (IML) in the latest ZF future delivery vans following human sible to off er home deliveries at acceptable customer service. operators from door to door. will continue for the foreseeable future as study, “The Last Mile”. The highlights of the fl ood of online orders keeps rising. our fi ndings are presented here. ■

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EN_40_ZF_Drive_01_2017 40 03.03.17 16:54 EN_41_ZF_Drive_01_2017 41 03.03.17 16:54 LOGISTICS

Customized delivery concepts: perish- New technologies able items such as foodstuff s often need to reach their destinations in 3 3D printers a matter of hours. shorten distances Consumer behavior

The biggest changes in logistics will be driven in par- ticular by technologies that not only impact methods Short distances allow of delivery, but make transportation itself unnecessary. 5 ZF’s 2016 Future Study comes to the conclusion that lightning-fast delivery 3D printing could have the same game-changing eff ect on the entire logistics industry as the advent of email Houseplants, perishable items, cut fl owers increased pressure on the logistics process, once had on the postal service. Thanks to additive and foodstuff s all used to have one thing in especially in the transportation of fresh manufacturing, many products no longer have to be common – they had to be collected from produce. The only way to guarantee that an built in traditional production facilities, but instead the store. Customers picked them out, paid item arrives in good condition is to success- can be manufactured much closer to their recipients. for them and took them home themselves. fully deliver the order to the customer on This will also bring about changes in city centers. While local pizza delivery services fi rst the fi rst attempt. Without customized deliv- Where once we used to fi nd copy shops for photocopy- whetted consumers’ appetites for (almost) ery concepts and shorter driving distances, ing or printing paper documents, we may well see 3D instant gratifi cation, e-commerce was the it is impossible to meet these demands printing shops from which customers can pick up the wild card that intensifi ed this desire. Cus- – as a result, local distribution centers will

goods they have ordered. However, even this futuristic New technologies are creating tomers are starting to demand faster deliv- have no choice but to move closer scenario will not be entirely feasible without transporta- major changes over the last mile ery of other things than just warm meals – to their customers and become tion. Although the fi nished product may not have to as 3D print shops become a often on the same day, and not infrequently part of a more decentralized standard downtown feature. be transported over the last mile, the raw materials within a few hours. This has placed hugely organizational structure. required for the 3D printing process will still need transportation.

“With our tailored solutions, we will help shape the Digitalization E-mobility technological transformation of the logistics industry.” New Target: zero emissions Fredrik Staedtler, 6 4 head of ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Technology division work ows In big cities in particular, the last mile of overall win for urban traffi c. the logistics process represents a major “Electric mobility will play Increasingly, the logistics industry is responding to challenge when delivery vans must share a key role in logistics going the trend toward ever more customized services by the road with other vehicles during rush forward, not just downtown, digitizing the delivery process itself. Connected systems

hour. In the future, electrically powered ve- but also in the world’s megaci- istockphoto.com ETM-Verlag, Photos: make it possible to anticipate orders plus transportation hicles will allow deliveries to be postponed ties,” asserts Fredrik Staedtler, demand curves before they are actually needed. Ideally, until city streets quieten down for the night. who heads the Commercial products should already be located in the immediate Almost-silent electric drives won’t cause Vehicle Technology division vicinity of customers even as they are placing their noise pollution, and will also reduce fuel at ZF. In the future, electric orders. Consignment tracking, data communications

consumption and exhaust emissions – an commercial vehicles could re- Electric delivery vans not and proactive customer information are already helping place competitors powered by combustion only cut cities’ carbon to signifi cantly improve existing workfl ows over the last engines over the last mile of busy routes, footprints, but also improve mile. This applies in particular to timetable, itinerary residents’ quality of life by as already demonstrated by a number of reducing noise pollution. and route planning, but also to the selection of suit- diff erent pilot projects being conducted by able locations for distribution centers. For this to work, parcel delivery services today. For example, however, organizations and their employees must learn Deutsche Post DHL has already success- to handle the growing quantities of data required for fully teamed up with business start-up making sound business decisions. Trust in integrity, Streetscooter, based in Aachen, Germany, security to prevent unauthorized access, and to produce a functional, practical electric data protection all play an essential role. delivery van for use in urban areas.

A new way of looking at processes: the digitalization of the last mile begins in employees’ minds.

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EN_42_ZF_Drive_01_2017 42 06.03.17 11:24 EN_43_ZF_Drive_01_2017 43 03.03.17 16:55 ROAD SAFETY

Thomas Herpich, S enior Manager Legislation and Regulatory Aff airs at s we enjoy watching For- of this has made its way from racetrack to ZF, stays in regular contact with the mula One races in our liv- road? Not the helmet or monocoque body, relevant consumer ing rooms, we become al- at any rate – in terms of design, a standard protection organiza- tions and national most subconsciously aware car has nothing in common with an F1 lawmakers. of the latest advances in au- racer. But our understanding of the fac- tomotiveA safety. Because nowadays, when tors necessary for a driver’s survival, plus an F1 race car is involved in a pile-up or the enormous gains in computer process- careens off the track and into a pile of ing power, have dramatically improved tires at a cool 200 mph, the driver usually vehicle safety on the streets. walks away from the wreckage unscathed. Although enormous forces are acting on Big decline in traffi c fatalities the race car’s structure, the fragile human Back in 1985, annual road traffi c acci- body within is protected from injury by dents resulted in some 10,000 fatalities in state-of-the-art automotive architecture. Germany alone. But by 2015, the number And yet just a few decades ago, such acci- of traffi c fatalities had fallen by almost two dents would undoubtedly have been fatal. thirds to just under 3,500 – even though So what’s happened? Well, the vehicle’s there were almost twice as many vehicles structure is optimized with the help of so- on the road. The U.S. saw a similar trend: phisticated computer simulations. Its body over the same period, the number of mo- is made out of high-tensile materials capa- tor vehicles in the country rose by around ble of withstanding massive impacts. And 100 million, whereas the number of road the driver is fully integrated into the ve- deaths fell by some 20 percent. hicle, wearing a helmet that is itself a mar- One of the institutions that made a vel of high-tech engineering. How much signifi cant contribution to this trend was the New Car Assessment Program, better known as NCAP. What may seem like a

Euro NCAP single consumer protection organization spanning the globe is actually made up of 10 independent rating agencies that spe- Testing cialize in assessing the safety-related fea- tures of new automobiles. The individual sensors agencies were founded between 1978 (U.S. NCAP) and 2006 (China’s C-NCAP). They Starting in 2018, Euro NCAP criteria developed test protocols to standardize will be extended to include predictive the crash properties of cars. Tests focus radar and camera sensors. This means on vehicle occupants; the safer they are, that technology required for automated the higher the number of points awarded. or autonomous driving will become a Crash-test ratings take the form of stars, key prerequisite for obtaining the test with a maximum score of fi ve stars. And program’s full fi ve-star rating. nowadays, vehicles with low ratings are SAFETY RATINGS almost impossible to sell.

Photos: Katrin Binner, istockphoto.com Katrin Binner, Photos: Diff erent country, diff erent focus However, test criteria are not identical in every country – and never have been. Each IN SAFE HANDS NCAP organization sets diff erent priori- ties based on regional needs and the most Independent organizations like NCAP test the safety of new common types of accidents there. Thus vehicles. Their work helps reduce the number of people injured U.S. accident statistics show signifi cantly more single-occupant accidents due to, for or killed in traffic accidents – and also inspires automakers and example, solo drivers becoming tired, ac- cidentally veering off the endlessly their suppliers to produce even more impressive innovations. long highways and rolling their vehicles. That’s why vehicle roll-

Text: Norbert Giesen overs are an important part of the U.S. NCAP test. In Europe, accidents involving other road

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users are more common, so Euro NCAP attract his or her attention,” says Herpich, of 15 degrees and with a 35 percent over- Passive safety challenges safety s ystems – and also introduce active test scenarios focus more closely on them. “The NCAP criteria as he describes one possible solution. In lap. These tests are carried out with the Front-seat passengers are also receiving safety systems that help prevent accidents are giving further this scenario, the traditional seatbelt – latest generation of crash-test dummies, more attention. ZF is developing special from happening in the fi rst place. Motivating engineers and lawmakers originally developed as a passive safety christened THOR (Test device for Human airbags for drivers and their front-seat Whereas the safety standards in in- But NCAP organizations also help inspire impetus to the feature – acquires an additional commu- Occupant Restraint). Not only does THOR companions that have very little in com- dustrialized countries are continuously engineers and legislators. For example, development of nication function that transforms it into more closely resemble a human being mon with simple “bags of air.” For the improving, many emerging nations are NCAP has gradually paid more and more an active safety device. An evolutionary than previous generations of dummies – above-mentioned Oblique Moving De- only just starting to establish basic safety attention to electronic driver-assist sys- driver-assist systems.” step the original developers of the seatbelt it also collects much more data. In short, formable Barrier (OMDB) crash test, ZF standards. India is planning to become the tems such as the electronic stability pro- could never have imagined. THOR registers loads and stresses that engineers developed a system of front and world’s third-largest automotive market Thomas Herpich, gram (ESP), extending the scope of as- previously went undetected. curtain airbags with special V-shaped and by 2020. And yet according to WHO sta- Legislation and Regulatory Aff airs sessments beyond mere crash tests. The Using more realistic dummies U-shaped chambers. “The special geom- tistics, more than 200,000 traffi c fatalities underlying premise is logical: vehicles Passive safety also needs to take a step etry covers the area around the A-pillar occur in the country every year. Vehicle

that are easier to control are less likely to forward. In the U.S., one particular type China NCAP and instrument panel, preventing heads occupants account for up to 20 percent of end up in critical situations. Euro NCAP automated driving. Here, the big chal- of accident is very common, and the Na- from hitting these components,” says Dirk these deaths. The major factor here is the started awarding points for ESP systems lenge surrounds the moment in which tional Highway Traffi c Safety Administra- Schultz. “And front-seat passengers are relative scarcity of airbags or robust vehi- in 2009; just two years later, ESP systems control of the vehicle is handed back to tion (NHTSA) – which is responsible for Protecting protected from extreme movements for- cle structures. Now Bharat NCAP, founded were legally required in all new cars. Now the driver – the moment when the system testing – has developed a suitable test ward and left by our ‘parallel cell front in 2011, is on the case. January 2015 saw NCAP offi cials publish roadmaps indi- signals to the driver, “it’s time for you to protocol for this scenario, involving the pedestrians seat passenger airbag’, which widens out the introduction of legislation governing cating which safety criteria they will be take over again!” The usual visual or opti- simulation of a turning vehicle. A moving toward the center of the vehicle. Both air- head-on and side-impact collisions. The evaluating in the future. By publishing cal signals might not be enough for a safe deformable barrier weighing almost 2.5 C-NCAP will focus more on its own bag systems are also designed to cushion second stage involves the implementation these roadmaps far in advance, they give transfer of command. “So in this case, the tons and traveling at 56 mph strikes a non- priorities in the future. Starting in 2018, the rolling motion of the head when it im- of an NCAP test protocol.

auto manufacturers and suppliers plenty driver’s seatbelt could tighten slightly, to moving vehicle from the left, at an angle istockphoto.com ZF, Photos: it plans to include pedestrian protection pacts,” adds Schultz, Vice President Glob- of time to respond. And the scope contin- in the list of assessment criteria. At a al Engineering Airbags & Infl ators at ZF. China shifts into high gear ues to grow. In addition to vehicle occu- later date, tests will also cover automatic But with autonomous driving on the ho- So what’s happening in China? “The Chi- pants, NCAP testers are paying increasing emergency braking systems. rizon, engineers must think even further nese version of NCAP won’t simply follow attention to more vulnerable road users ahead. Whereas today’s vehicle occupants European or U.S. standards. It will set its such as pedestrians and cyclists. Today, – especially drivers – sit in clearly defi ned own priorities for the future by focusing Euro NCAP safety ratings cover four main positions at a certain distance from steer- on passive safety, pedestrian safety, active

a reas: adult protection, child protection, U.S. NCAP ing wheel and pedals, the variable design safety – including automatic emergency pedestrian protection and safety assist of future vehicle interiors means that in braking – and fuel effi ciency, not to men- technologies. certain situations, drivers will move away tion overvoltage protection in hybrid and “This will give further impetus to the New from this “ideal” (i.e. predictable) posi- all-electric e-vehicles,” says Chris Wu, En- development of driver assistance systems, tion. If, in such a situation, a crash should gineering Director Occupant Safety Sys- especially predictive systems,” explains crash test happen, today’s airbag systems may no tems at ZF China. In contrast to India and Thomas Herpich. As ZF’s Senior Man- longer provide suffi cient protection. To China, sophisticated safety technology has ager Legislation and Regulatory Aff airs & Starting in 2020, new cars hoping to be fully protect vehicle occupants in a wide already reached the economy segment in System Engineering V & V, he is perma- awarded a fi ve-star rating must pass the variety of alternative situations, new or Europe. The new Ford Fiesta, for example, nently engaged in dialog with lawmakers planned Oblique Moving Deformable modifi ed safety systems may be required. contains 15 advanced driver-assist sys- and the rating agencies. For years, the Barrier (OMDB) crash test. The test uses This is yet another very good reason for tems – features that just a few years ago company has stayed in regular contact a new dummy that captures more data making eff orts to further improve passive were only found in luxury cars. ■ with consumer protection organizations and more accurately reports the eff ects and the relevant legislative bodies. Intel- of the crash on the human body. ligently designed safety systems help im- Automatic emergency braking will be prove road safety around the world. Con- included in the sequently, engineers actually welcome C-NCAP test protocol the associated challenges. “It’s our job to going forward. make vehicles safer. We’re constantly hav- ing to ask ourselves new questions and fi nd the right technical solutions. Our sys- tems save lives,” says Herpich. And there’s still plenty to do, especially in view of foreseeable developments in

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EN_46_ZF_Drive_01_2017 46 03.03.17 16:56 EN_47_ZF_Drive_01_2017 47 03.03.17 16:56 DEVELOPMENT

smile. “We’re using a simulation to check the software for errors.” And if they fi nd any? “We feed them back to our colleagues in development and they send us back a new version in a short while.” Tests like this may run for anything from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. More than two thirds of the engineers at ZF Pilsen work in software development and testing. Because all modern technolo- gies are now managed by software, the ZF acquired the Pilsen development center from an engineering services development center does a huge amount provider in 2007, along with some 50 employees, The new main building was of legwork for other ZF locations. “It’s all added in 2015. Today, ZF employs around 300 people in Pilsen. done by MRP and budgeting,” explains Mathias Eickhoff . “People look around the stage,” says Eickhoff , himself a mechani- company to see who has the capacity and cal engineer. relevant expertise and can do the develop- The main building at ZF Pilsen, an ment work for a reasonable price.” elegant glass aff air, also houses the de- Protective clothing is mandatory for operating signers and number crunchers. Such as the 3D metal printer. Unique fl exibility the team of designers confi guring new Compared with the software team’s fi rst- dual-mass fl ywheels on computer, for ex- fl oor offi ces, the workshops in the old ample. “We do a lot of development work. building appear very old-fashioned. But I fi nd it more exciting than production,” these modest premises conceal some seri- enthuses mechanical engineer Miroslav ously advanced engineering, in the form Čižek, who has been working at ZF Pilsen of a 3D metal printer – the fi rst and only for six years. In the open-plan offi ce be- such device in ZF. The printer uses lasers neath, eight teams comprising more than to “print” metal shapes by melting layer 100 software development engineers sit COMPETENCIES AND after layer of aluminum or steel powder together, tweaking the system manage- to build up a three-dimensional workpiece ment software of transmissions like the CAREER OPPORTUNITIES in a process called direct metal laser sin- 9HP, TraXon and Ergopower, or the latest tering. The advantages are clear. “We’re electronically controlled shock absorbers faster and cheaper than if we had to ramp fi tted with Continuous Damping Con- With the recent obrý den! Good morning!” research institutes. Pilsen and the Czech up a conventional production line,” says trol (CDC). Head of department Martin completion of the Plant manager Dr. Mathias Republic have many advantages, explains print coordinator Karel Löff elmann. And Valenta is proud of his young brains’ po- Eickhoff welcomes his Czech Eickhoff . They’re near the German bor- the prototype workpieces give designers tential: “We’ve built up enormous exper- R&D center in Pilsen colleagues to the Tuesday der, in a central European location, with much more fl exibility. “This is enormous- tise among our new recruits. We’re proud morning management meet- technical universities that deliver a high ly helpful at the preliminary development to be part of the larger ZF team.” ■ in the Czech Republic, Ding. Although he has built up a solid basic standard of education. Last but not least, ZF has strengthened vocabulary after 18 months of learning they off er good communications, because the language, the meeting will be held in many young Czechs also speak German a key Central English. “When we’re discussing technical or English. “This makes it a very attrac- European location. stuff , it’s easier and faster for everybody tive place to be, and is a good reason for just to use the main company language,” ZF’s growing involvement,” says Eickhoff . explains the engineer with a laugh. Heads With 270 engineers working on new de- Text: Ulrich Saff erling of department make their reports; Math- velopments, the company is still looking Photos: Dominik Gigler ias Eickhoff digs deeper, then makes de- for more. “At the moment, we can’t recruit cisions. “Our young engineers are highly all the employees we need. We’re current- motivated,” he says. “Because we focus on ly advertising 25 engineering posts.” software development, experienced pro- Team leader Pavel Srnka and test co- fessionals as well as university graduates ordinator Václav Podlena are examining come to join us from Pilsen and Prague.” a test record on-screen. They’re check- ZF Engineering in Pilsen enjoys a ing the safety functions in a commercial Dr. Mathias Eickhoff (photo left) in his Tuesday strategically advantageous location on vehicle transmission. So where’s the ac- meeting. Martin Valenta (photo above, on left) the university road, right next to various tual transmission? “We don’t need it,” they is proud of his young team.

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EN_48_ZF_Drive_01_2017 48 07.03.17 12:23 EN_49_ZF_Drive_01_2017 49 06.03.17 12:01 SENSOR TECHNOLOGY

It’s a simple fact that today’s driver-assist systems and tomorrow’s driverless vehicles all make use of MULTIPLE SENSOR SYSTEMS based on many different technologies.

EYES ON usca domestica, or the literally slow motion – a principle that is common housefl y, is not equally useful in road traffi c. But a lidar the animal that most im- sensor puts even a housefl y’s awesome EVERYTHING mediately springs to mind high-speed, high-resolution capabilities in when discussing spectac- the shade. On average, lidar sensors regis- Mular performance evolved over millions of ter several thousand signals every second. years. Yet it often appears to anyone wield- ing a fl y swatter that these winged pests Lidar: precise echolocation for cars – ALWAYS have added a seventh sense to the other But the detector, a passive device for regis- six, enabling them to evade certain death tering stimuli, makes up just half of a lidar Many species have evolved special ways of perceiving their by mere fractions of a second. sensor. The sensor as a whole is based on environments, from the raptor’s eagle-eyed vision to the The housefl y owes its superfast reac- an echolocation principle similar to the tions to a highly evolved sensory system. biological sonar that allows dolphins and ultrasonic echolocation that enables bats to navigate in the A fi lm comprising a series of images fl ash- bats to fi nd their way – and their prey – ing by at 20 frames per second can fool in the dark. To do so, they generate sound dark. Vehicle sensors use the same underlying principles to the human eye into seeing continuous mo- waves that are refl ected back to them by maintain precise positioning and orientation. tion. But fl ies are capable of perceiving as obstacles and potential food sources. The many as 250 separate images in one sec- time the sound takes to bounce back tells ond. They can watch the deadly fl y swat- the animals where a given object is posi-

Text: Kathrin Wildemann shutterstock Photo: ter as it approaches in what, for them, is tioned in relation to themselves. Bats even

50 drivedrive 2.20161.2017 51

EN_50_ZF_Drive_01_2017 50 03.03.17 17:11 EN_51_ZF_Drive_01_2017 51 03.03.17 17:11 SENSOR TECHNOLOGY Sensor technology gives cars the same ALL-ROUND VISION AS A CHAMELEON

make use of the associated Doppler eff ect into their own in poor weather conditions: with its exceptionally mobile, independently to work out which way a tasty moth is fl y- whereas fog or heavy rain literally and in moving eyes. But vehicles can take advantage ing and how rapidly its wings are beating. the truest sense of the word blind an opti- of multiple interlinked sensor technologies. Lidar systems use bursts of laser light, cal system, radar waves pass through wa- each lasting just billionths of a second, as ter droplets more or less eff ortlessly. the equivalent of sound waves. Together with ZF, Hamburg-based fi rm Ibeo is de- Cameras: wide-angle and long shots veloping a new generation of mobile lidar Alongside echolocation systems, cameras sensors, using lasers that operate in the in- are also fi rmly established in the panthe- frared range at wavelengths of 850 or 885 on of automotive environment recogni- nanometers. Light at these wavelengths tion devices. Vehicle camera systems can’t is invisible to the human eye, and not in- match the visual acuity of birds of prey. tense enough to do any harm. Compared After all, that proverbial eagle eye can with other sensors, lidar systems produce pick out a mouse at distances of around extremely accurate results over very long 350 meters. In road traffi c, however, such ranges. The laser sensors can detect ob- high resolution would be more hindrance jects – both motionless and moving – sur- than help. In these conditions, a wide fi eld rounding the vehicle at distances of up to of vision combined with good resolution 300 meters. are much more important, especially at a perpendicular angle to the direction of Radar: piercing fog and darkness travel. Thus ZF’s Tri-Cam system has both Radar sensors operate using the same a telephoto lens and a fi sh-eye lens, for im- Bats navigate using basic principle, albeit using electromag- proved recognition of close-up objects. ECHOLOCATION BASED netic radiation at considerably longer The above-mentioned sensor systems wavelengths; ZF’s radar systems gener- have one signifi cant advantage over the ON SOUND WAVES ate waves in the multi-millimeter range. animal world’s sensory specialists: they to detect their prey in Although they have a lower resolution aren’t limited to a single technology, but total darkness. than lidar systems, radar sensors come can rely on the interaction of multiple Photos: plainpicture (2) plainpicture Photos:

Sensors for all seasons sensor systems. The specifi c benefi ts of is capable of powering a driver-assist sys- radar, lidar and camera systems are mutu- tem on its own, let alone enabling a car Perfect all-round vision – guaranteed ally complementary, covering every traffi c to drive by itself. For high-speed reaction situation imaginable. A vehicle fi tted with times, you also need the right software, S R SR RR RR SR R S all these systems has 360-degree all-round capable of processing and analyzing the 3 3 vision. Even the animal world’s record incoming streams of data without delay. holder with the broadest fi eld of vision, A bat’s brain, for example, is able to com- the chameleon, is “only” capable of swiv- pute the exact position of its prey from the 1 1 elling its eyes through 342 degrees. De- refl ected echo of a sound wave. The cha- spite protuberant eyes capable of moving meleon’s bony features conceal a mind

2 independently, the animal still has a small capable of processing two completely

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R R R S S 18-degree blind spot just behind its head. separate images of its surroundings and turning them into a single, coherent im- Processing power for driverless cars age. In the automotive world, the demand Depending on vehicle speeds, front-facing As cost-eff ective, robust alternatives, cam- Lidar systems are very costly, but their Working together, all these diff erent If necessary, the multiplicity of sensor for processing power is growing in par- radar systems 1 in, for example, active eras like ZF’s Tri-Cam 2 system are already long range and high resolution beat other sensor technologies ensure that the technologies could be extended even fur- allel with the swelling streams of data cruise control systems have a range of up used in many driver-assist solutions such technologies hands down. They’re also vehicle has full, all-round perception ther. While ultrasonic sensors only have collected by ever more sophisticated sen- to 200 meters. They can detect the position as lane-keeping assistants. With ranges of capable of eff ortlessly detecting pedestrians of the surrounding environment at all a comparatively limited range, they are a sors. Future electronic control units like and speed of the vehicle in front, as well as up to 250 meters, they are not the most and cyclists. However, rain and fog do have times. The benefi ts of the diff erent very cost-eff ective option for parking and the ZF ProAI developed in collaboration oncoming vehicles. For lane-change assist “eagle-eyed” of technologies – but they are a signifi cant impact on their visual acuity. systems are mutually complementary, lane-change assistance. And infrared de- with Nvidia will become the vehicle’s purposes, ZF also supplies the AC2000 capable of detecting motion perpendicular Together with Ibeo, ZF is currently develop- giving vehicles the system redundancy vices could be helpful for reliably detect- brain. Only then will self-driving cars be system as a side-mounted radar sensor with to the direction of travel much more accu- ing a compact lidar sensor 3 that doesn’t that is so essential for the success of ing obstacles obscured by the dazzle of able to react to the sudden appearance of a fi eld of vision of up to 150 degrees. rately than, say, radar sensors. need wear-prone rotating mirrors. autonomous driving. oncoming headlights. a deer in the middle of the road with the Of course not even the most compre- same lightning speed as a housefl y avoid- hensive selection of sensor technologies ing a potentially lethal fl yswatter. ■

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EN_52_ZF_Drive_01_2017 52 03.03.17 17:11 EN_53_ZF_Drive_01_2017 53 03.03.17 17:11 YESTERDAY AND TODAY SERVICE

STEADY AS SHE GOES

ZF has been pointing vehicles in the right direction for more than 80 years. Originally a licensee of steering technology, the company now supplies a full range of innovative systems.

Award-winning corporate then communications 1932 Since 2014, ZF media have won Transmission specialist ZF started the “Best of Content Marketing” award no less than seven times. to manufacture steering systems in 1932. A lack of expertise in this In 2014 and 2015, ZF’s multi-channel communication area drove the company to seek through customer magazine out a licensing partner in the form drive, employee newspaper we›move, the online magazine of U.S. fi rm Ross Gear and Tool at www.zf.com and ZF social Company. ZF produced Ross steer- media channels won the Gold Award for “Best Crossmedia ing systems under license until the Solution” in the Automotive 1950s, then made an early switch category.

to developing its own innovations In 2016, ZF won the U.S. with the spindle-type hydraulic Good Design Award for drive magazine. steering system (1956). In 2003, the launch of the active steering system under the ZF Lenksysteme brand was another milestone.

Wanderer was the fi rst automaker to buy Ross steering systems built by ZF for cars like the 1929 W11 (above). The 1957 Ross steering unit shown here had already been discontinued. READ DRIVE AT HOME and now Have you enjoyed reading our magazine? Would you like to read drive more often – free of charge? Simply scan Following the sale of ZF Lenksysteme GmbH to former partner Bosch in 2015, ZF has continued the QR code on the right to subscribe directly online. to develop steering systems that further enhance safety and comfort. Alongside existing front- Please also use the QR code if you already subscribe to drive but no longer wish to do so. If you wheel steering systems, one of ZF’s most recent have any questions or would like to send us feedback, just email us at: [email protected] innovations is the AKC rear-axle steering system. Depending on vehicle speed, the latter assists the front axle’s steering motion by adjusting rear-axle About this magazine drive Reader Service Digitalization: Felix Kästle; 32_33 Digitalization: ZF/ tracking a few degrees in the same or opposite HOFFMANN UND CAMPE VERLAG GmbH, Albert Kunzer; 34_35 Digitalization: istockphoto. Publisher ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Postfach 130573, com; 36_37 Mobility Concept: ZF, Rinspeed; 38_39 direction as the front wheels, improving either 88038 Friedrichshafen, Germany 20105 Hamburg, Germany Mobility Concept: istockphoto.com (2); 40_43 Editor in Chief Florian Tausch (V.i.S.d.P.) Phone: +49 40 688 79-137 Logistics: ETM_Verlag, istockphoto.com; 44_45 high-speed stability or low-speed agility. Editorial Team Renate Corrigan, Michael Fax: +49 40 688 79-199 Road Safety: Katrin Binner, istockphoto.com; Scheibe, Holger Thissen, Frank Thoma, Jan Email: [email protected] 46_47 Road Safety: ZF, istockphoto.com; 48_49 Wienrich Development: Dominik Gigler; 50_51 Sensor Tech- Other Contributors to this Issue Photo Credits Cover: Dave Hänggi; 02_03 nology: shutterstock; 52_53 Sensor Technology: Norbert Giesen, Andreas Neemann, Achim Neu- Editorial: shutterstock (4), Andreas Pohlmann; plainpicture (2); 54 Yesterday and Today: ZF/AUDI wirth, Ulrich Safferling, Stefan Schrahe, Melanie 04_05 Contents: Dave Hänggi, Robert Guio, AG Archive, David Frechette Stahr, Kathrin Wildemann, Johannes Winterhagen ETM_Verlag, plainpicture/NaturePL/Ingo Arndt, Dominik Gigler; 06_07 ZF Moment: Rinspeed, Two Reader Service If you are no longer interested in Mounted on the rear axle, AKC Publishing Services Ring Photography; 08_09 ZF Engineering: Foton, receiving future issues of drive, you may ask us to improves the driving dynamics HOFFMANN UND CAMPE X, a brand of KUKA, Durmazlar, General Motors, 2016 Deere & stop using your personal data for marketing of the Cadillac CT6. A ZF TRW HOFFMANN UND CAMPE VERLAG GmbH, Company, BMW AG/Daniel Kraus, Porsche; 10_11 purposes at any time, with immediate effect. Hamburg, Germany ZF News: ZF, Porsche / Kräling; 12_19 Digitaliza- Simply send us a quick email at: dual-pinion EPS electric power Design Tobias Zabell, Melanie Kollath tion: Dave Hänggi; 20_21 Digitalization: Noun [email protected] steering system guides the Printing Neef+Stumme premium printing, Project; 22_27 Digitalization: Robert Guio; 28_29 or call us on +49 40 688 79-137.

movements of the front axle. Frechette David Archive, AG ZF/AUDI Photos: Wittingen, Germany Digitalization: MMJ Studio, Sean Rodwell; 30_31

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EN_54_ZF_Drive_01_2017 54 06.03.17 11:28 EN_55_ZF_Drive_01_2017 55 06.03.17 11:29 EN_56_ZF_Drive_01_2017 56 03.03.17 17:28