Iaa 2025: ZF Showcases Software-Defined Chassis and Electrification Mobility Technology Gasgoo News Xin Wen 2

At the 2025 IAA Mobility (Munich Motor Show) in Germany, ZF showcased its vision for the future of mobility: electrification, connectivity, and high safety. ZF’s drive systems, steer-by-wire systems, and chassis software are all ready for mass production, fully committed to creating the software-defined electric vehicles of the future. ZF is also setting a new benchmark in electrification: the SELECT e-drive platform achieves a high level of integration of the electric drive system, power electronics, and software; the TherMaS thermal management system can precisely match the energy demands of modern electric vehicles, enabling efficient temperature control.

The three major global trends—software-defined vehicles, autonomous driving, and electric drive—are continuously enhancing the strategic value of ZF’s technologies. Dr. Holger Klein, CEO of ZF Group, stated at the 2025 Munich Motor Show: “Innovation has been and will continue to be the cornerstone of ZF’s success, both now and in the future. We have always aligned our product portfolio with the future trends of passenger vehicle mobility. Today, under the major trends of software-defined vehicles and electrification of powertrains, ZF has established a highly competitive market advantage.”

Figure: Dr. Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of ZF Group

Chassis innovation leads the market

ZF's technological competitiveness is particularly prominent in the field of passenger car chassis. With professional capabilities in intelligent actuators, system integration, and software development, ZF not only meets the global market's demand for new products and driving functions but also secures mass production orders from global car manufacturers with its innovative achievements. As an industry leader in steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire solutions, ZF has won bulk orders from mainstream automakers in China, Europe, and North America. Dr. Holger Klein added, "Our customer base is extensive, including established multinational car companies as well as dynamic new enterprises and startups in China. With our professional capability in technology development and reliable mass production solutions, ZF has earned widespread trust from various global clients."

Image: ZF Chassis 2.0

ZF's "Chassis 2.0" concept provides a comprehensive solution for the next-generation intelligent chassis system. In addition to steer-by-wire technology, this solution includes the Active Kinematics Control (AKC) rear axle steering system, active and semi-active damping systems, and electronic anti-roll stabilization systems, which are networkable actuators. These components can optimize driving performance at both the vehicle and system levels and facilitate the implementation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving functions. ZF's self-developed vehicle motion control software, cubiX, plays a crucial role and can support all networked actuators across brands. This means that even without relying on mechanical components, automakers can leverage ZF's comprehensive system capabilities to achieve upgrades and iterations.

Figure: ZF Steer-by-Wire System

Modular drive enables efficient thermal management.

In the electric drive market, faced with intense competition driven by technological differentiation, ZF adopts a flexible platform strategy to support multiple drive configurations. This strategy is key to meeting customers’ demands for shorter development cycles, faster innovation, higher integration, and better cost efficiency.

At the Munich Motor Show, ZF launched the SELECT electric drive platform as its core technology. This platform offers a highly integrated system solution with multiple variants, encompassing essential components such as the motor, inverter, converter, gearbox, and software. These components also support hybrid solutions, including the new 8-speed automatic transmission 8HPevo and the range extender concept making its debut at the Munich Motor Show.

Figure: SELECT Electric Drive Platform

To improve electric drive efficiency and thereby enhance the market acceptance of electrified mobility, ZF has adopted a comprehensive innovation strategy. One of these innovations is the TherMaS thermal management system, developed exclusively by ZF for pure electric vehicles and now at a market-mature stage. This system uses propane as the refrigerant, achieving superior thermal performance in both extremely cold and hot environments, while also enabling a more compact and lightweight system design. Test results show that by optimizing thermal management and more efficiently utilizing the waste heat from the drive system, the system can increase electric driving range by 10% under harsh winter conditions, and even up to 30% under extreme conditions.

Image: TherMaS Thermal Management System

Vehicle Health Monitoring: Digital Extension of Physical Products

ZF also applies its software expertise to new product development. By continuously monitoring and recording characteristic data related to the technical condition of components such as the chassis or drivetrain, ZF can predict their functional status based on this information. Currently, ZF has integrated these capabilities into a range of monitoring services. These applications can provide early warnings of potential faults and offer maintenance recommendations, thereby improving efficiency and performance.

Diagram: Vehicle Health Monitoring

ZF actively collaborates with car manufacturers to develop such digital services based on real vehicle data from its own systems. The two parties jointly create multi-functional service packages, which are highly attractive to end customers, especially leasing companies, corporate fleets, and shared mobility service providers.

ZF's solutions can be further optimized using artificial intelligence. For example, ZF has achieved precise temperature measurement in high-temperature, confined, and inaccessible areas inside the motor. Accurate temperature data can be obtained solely through artificial intelligence algorithms, without additional hardware. Based on artificial intelligence, the TempAI solution elevates the temperature management technology of electric drive systems to a new level. Using a self-learning temperature model, TempAI can improve prediction accuracy by more than 15%, thereby significantly optimizing the utilization of thermal energy in motors.

ZF "ProAI": A Scalable Central Computer

The demand for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) is growing rapidly. In many market regions, including the European Union, new vehicles must be equipped with ADAS features such as emergency braking, lane departure warning, or intelligent cruise control. To effectively implement these assistance systems and achieve vehicle connectivity, current automotive architectures mainly rely on domain controllers, zonal controllers, or central computers. These central control units replace a large number of distributed, hardware-bound controllers, and they also require more powerful computing capabilities. In response to this, ZF has launched the "ProAI" series of automotive-grade central controllers, suitable for all vehicle platforms, software applications, and electrical/electronic architectures.

ZF has also introduced more cost-effective computing units for mass-produced vehicles. Thanks to the scalability and modular design of ZF's "ZF ProAI," the company has established a clear product architecture system. ZF ProAI can be customized according to customer requirements and is suitable for all levels, types, and architectures of vehicles—from low-cost entry-level models for single front cameras or parking applications, to high-performance comfort configurations supporting L2 and L3 ADAS and advanced chassis solutions, and even to integrated supercomputers controlling fully autonomous driving applications across all scenarios. ZF ProAI has become synonymous with ZF’s in-vehicle computing solutions.

ZF has introduced ADAS and parking functions as "independent software products," offering over 30 safety, comfort, and parking features that can be modularly selected and integrated without hardware constraints. This provides automakers with greater flexibility, scalability, and significantly shortens the development cycle.

Image: ADAS

ZF LIFETEC: Pioneer of Passive Safety Solutions

At the auto show, ZF LIFETEC will showcase several achievements, including the temperature-controlled heated seat belt 2.0 (Heat Belt 2.0) and the deformable steering wheel concept, reflecting the development trend of personalized cockpits.

The Heating Seat Belt 2.0 achieves close-fitting heating through integrated heating wires and adaptive algorithms. Its low energy consumption significantly improves energy efficiency, potentially reducing the heating power of air conditioning systems by up to 1000 watts. It not only adapts to smaller-sized air conditioning systems and works in conjunction with traditional in-car panel heaters but also can increase the driving range by up to 6%.

Image: ZF LIFETEC Heating Safety Belt 2.0

From the current development trend, cars are increasingly becoming important "extended" living spaces, especially in the Asian market. ZF LIFETEC enhances freedom and comfort through a new steering wheel concept. The steering wheel can be folded forward and retracted into the dashboard within seconds through motorized control. This design creates possibilities for flexible layouts in the "future cockpit," particularly providing more space for passengers during parking or (partially) autonomous driving modes.