Braking point: How brake tech shapes the future of mobility - feat. Brembo and IDIADA

In the complex world of automotive technology, there’s so much more to stopping than brakes—and there’s so much more to brakes than stopping. 

In this episode of FISITA's Beyond the Car Podcast, we're talking about the evolution of brake technology, from a practical and necessary safety device, to an intelligent system that's become central to the successful implementation of next-generation vehicle technology.

Olivier Coppin, Vice President of Innovation at Brembo, and Fabio Squadrani, Senior Manager, Brake Technology at Applus+IDIADA, discuss advances in brake and chassis technology, the influence of megatrends such as electrification, software defined vehicle, artificial intelligence, and automation, as well as the ongoing corner module conundrum: will it ever happen?

Guests

Olivier Coppin - VP Innovation, Brembo LinkedIn

Fabio Squadrani - Senior Manager, Braking Systems at Applus+ IDIADA LinkedIn

More information about the FISITA Advanced Chassis Technology Expert Group: Expert Group – Advanced Chassis Technology – FISITA

Follow FISITA's 'Beyond the Car' podcast on LinkedIn

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You can listen to FISITA's 'Beyond the Car' podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information about FISITA, head to FISITA.com - and to learn more about the 'Beyond the Car' podcast, you can contact us at info@fisita.com.

Thank you to Martyn Strong for production.

Transcript

Martin Kahl 0:17

In the complex world of automotive technology, there's so much more to stopping than brakes, and there's so much more to brakes than stopping. I'm Martin Kahl of FISITA, and in this episode of FISITA's Beyond the Car podcast, we're talking about the evolution of brake technology, from a practical and necessary safety device to an intelligent system that's become central to the successful implementation of next generation vehicle technology. I'm joined by Olivier Coppin, Vice President of Innovation at Brembo, and Fabio Squadrani, head of brake technology at Applus+ IDIADA, to talk about advances in brake and chassis technology, the influence of megatrends such as electrification, software-defined vehicle, artificial intelligence and automation, and the ongoing corner module conundrum. Will it ever happen?

Martin Kahl 1:02

I'll be back at the end with some closing thoughts. For now, here's my conversation with Olivier Coppin and Fabio Squadrani.

Martin Kahl 1:10

Olivier Fabio, thanks for joining me on FISITA's Beyond the Car podcast. I want to talk today about a critical aspect of driving, namely stopping. In fact, we often talk about braking being about more than just stopping, and I want to talk today about the impact of automotive mega trends on brake system development and how braking isn't just something that's developed as a practical necessity, but is in fact at the heart of automotive technology. And we also want to look beyond brakes. We want to talk about that wider corner area of the vehicle where the brakes obviously are involved, but there's a lot more going on than that. So we want to take a big picture look with the sort of a future-looking perspective on braking and its importance in the development of next generation vehicle technology development. But first, let's set the scene. Fabio, where are you right now?

Fabio Squadrani 1:58

Okay, actually, uh currently I'm in Spain. I work at uh Idiada. Ideada is um located 70 kilometers uh from Barcelona. Um very well known as a proving ground, so very uh nice view from my window with a lot of a lot of cars being testing right now. Um very close to Tarragona between a very uh nice area within Spain. I'm taking care of um all the activities relating with brakes, in terms of uh design, engineering, testing, uh everything related with uh uh vehicle development in terms of uh braking systems.

Martin Kahl 2:37

Great, thank you. And Olivier, what's which city can you see if you look out the window?

Olivier Coppin 2:41

Glad to be to be with yours today. So uh I'm based in uh Cesano, which is near Bergamo in Italy. Uh so quite uh a nice nice city. Uh and Brembo has its headquarters here, so all the technical uh uh uh features and directions and uh dealing uh from uh motor to heavy-duty uh trucks going through personal cars vehicle, and uh we are addressing all the brake technology and uh uh applications from this all the vehicles, and uh we are opening new topics with the we will talk about that in a few minutes, but by wire, what is the future of this? And of course, we are world-world companies, so we have entities in US and Asia and so on. But Italy is a headquarter, and we are uh the chance to have uh some plants near us to be able to select and to test also all the features we are delivering because we are dealing from the basic material from the powder to uh make the pads to the global brake systems.

Martin Kahl 3:45

Great, thank you. And we've we've used the word brakes a lot already in this, and uh, as I said, we want to talk more about uh automotive technology, not just about brake systems, but Brembo is renowned as a brake manufacturer. I'm keen to hear about some of the other automotive technologies in the current Brembo portfolio and maybe some hints at future areas of Brembo products and solutions.

Olivier Coppin 4:09

Yes, absolutely. Uh maybe you know Brembo bought uh source motion company last year, which is Olinz, which is a very high-level system company. So it's a way to Brembo to enter into the system point of view of what will be the main part of what we call the corner, uh, which is uh the integration of a lot of function uh on the wheel, and we have the opportunity to speak in detail about that in a few minutes.

Speaker 2 4:33

Thank you. And Fabio, you already talked about heading up break technology at Iliada, but you also talked about the testing and proving that you do. Tell us a bit about what you do on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 4:43

Actually, um these are very interesting questions, and this is uh related with uh uh a big change now into what we are doing in terms of uh development. Um some years ago, when I started doing this job, testing activities were mainly proving ground-based, open road-based, uh, doing very standard testing and activities which led to the final sign-off of vehicles. So activities like stopping distance testing, evaluation of pedal field, evaluation of noise. Now, uh, since the last I will say 10 years, activities have become much more complex. Um, everything is uh uh more related to electronic integration of different systems, and I think that uh what Olivier was talking before is something that we witness in our daily activities. So um rarely we are working on brakes only, on brakes projects only, but most of the time you're working in very harmonized and integrated projects uh with uh I mean different customers, different vehicle manufacturers uh all around the world, um combining different, I would say, specialities, um managing different attributes, uh so not only for what we call longitudinal dynamics, but uh combining with uh longitudinal, lateral, but also active systems. Okay, so many years ago, active systems were purely related with uh ABS and ESP. Now I will say that uh 99% of what we do is related with uh an active system, though, to a system which is uh taking decision, taking smart decision on behalf of the driver.

Speaker 2 6:30

That's really interesting. I wanted to um ask Olivier how you see brake systems evolving as mobility shifts from human driving to automated driving, not necessarily autonomous vehicles, but more and more increased um smart vehicle technology that obviously has a a huge role to play in that braking uh aspect of driving.

Speaker 6:53

Absolutely, but brake is is a key point because, as you said, we are in we are living a lot of trends which will transform the vehicle itself in a technological point of view, which is one part, but also in the use case we may we will use the mobility in the next future, going, like you said, from classic cars to automotive driving with different levels and different features. And by the way, uh as uh Fabio told, brake is a key part because it's uh one of the first is sorry at least the safety component of the vehicle, because in any case, when you are not safe, you have to stop the vehicle to become safe first. So brake is a key point. But in addition to that, uh from years now, we are used to deal with the physical dynamics of the vehicle. And in this point, also brake is a is a key actor because, of course, you can manage a part of the dynamic by power trend management, but you also need in case of uh limits of advance of dynamic stability and so on, you need an additional way to act on the vehicle behavior, which is the brakes on the four wheels. And by the way, uh the trends is to transform the brake as only I will say a passive component you will just need when you need to speed down or stop the vehicle to a safety one safety component and safety feature, and then uh I will say daily every millisecond be a part of the dynamic safe behavior of the vehicle to ensure the stability control of the vehicle, to give the the driver the capacity in a most peaceful way to manage and to secure the car, but in case of uh hazard coming on the on the road and so on, you have to react to support the dynamic behavior of the vehicle to keep safe, which is the final, I will say, vision uh of the of the MVT. You need to move, but you need to be safe. So brake is a key point on this all these topics, also by the way, brake becomes a center actor, all the transformation on the trends, on the function, on the use of the vehicle do due to that.

Speaker 2 9:08

You mentioned at the start of this conversation about brake by wire. Um just just just give us a uh a one-liner on what that is and how that's different from braking up till this point, and then we can talk about how that's involved in the next generation of vehicle technology.

Speaker 9:25

Basically, break by wire or the by wire technology is to emplace the mechanical actioner or link between the driver and the component with some wire, basically, so electric signal and so on to be able to decode. And in breaks, we have two steps of evolution. The first uh step is to discouple the brake pedal to the actual hydraulic fluid to go to the cylinder or the caliper in to the wheels. The first step, which is now on all the roads from the earth. The second step, which just opened this year with Brembo, is to be totally and fully electric. So no more hydraulics and no more actioner acting instead of the of the driver, meaning that you uh the harder of the of the driver is transformed in electric signal to act in a more accurate way in each wheel with dedicated and distributed actioner in the wheel. So, by the way, second step, so you have a total control of the system because brake becomes a real system and not uh uh a component, so it becomes a system integrated into the car. And by the way, brake wire is also uh deeply linked to what we call globally the software-defined vehicle because as a system, on electronic managed system, you need to manage it by soft, and by the way, the full bywire evolution going into this way to support and to take all the opportunity and advantage of the software-defined vehicles.

Speaker 1 11:06

Could we say, if I may, um, that brake by wire is possibly the biggest uh change on braking system since the invention of ABS? I mean, then ABS evolved into different systems, but I would really say that brake by wire could be um one of the biggest changes. Um currently we have decoupled braking systems, okay? So you are pressing your brake uh and you don't have a physical contact between your pedal and uh I will say the brake pad. Everything is uh what I will call simulated fill. And um most of the drivers I will say that uh don't even realize because the tuning work, the integration work which is done there is uh I would say terrific. It's incredible in terms of uh tuning, but also in terms of uh safety and uh and integration. So um break by wire could really bring uh an innovative perception of brake, particularly when it's uh coordinated with uh um what uh is the typical attempt of uh corner module, this kind of vision related with the corner module, uh which is I will say the dream of the chass engineer since the last 30 years. But I will say that this is a major intervention in terms of uh, I will say not only brakes, but in terms of chassis evolution.

Speaker 12:30

Definitely, Fabion, I will jump on your remark because one of the hand opportunities and advantage of the full biowire system is to be able to act, not only react, but to act at the actual, meaning in your case in a corner area where the physics appear. So you need to wait that you overcome a limit somewhere in the vehicle, meaning in the corner, which is where the road vehicle interface for the tire and the wheel to detect this other coming situation to react. When you have a distributed system hallowed by full biowire uh technology, you are able to manage locally in the best accurate way what is the status of all the components, and by the way, all the parts of the road will interface, meaning that you are even able to detect and to manage the margin between the limit and the current status of your physic vehicle minute by minute, second by second, millisecond by milliseconds. So by the way, as a full by wire system with a full distributed intelligence, I will say on management, you are able to act in this safety margin. So you are able to enhance the safety of the behavior of the vehicle at the end of the day, and you are able to react before overcoming the limit. Of course, you synchronize the corner in a central point of view, but you are able to act more quicker, more accurately in the corner without waiting to overcome the limit, to then coupon set at vehicle level this overcoming limit.

Speaker 2 14:30

We've quickly brought in a number of the mega trends that I thought we'd talk about as individual things already today. So um you've mentioned about software-defined vehicle, and that plays a critical role in the introduction of more and more automated driving technologies, so does um artificial intelligence, which is something that I know I've talked to at at length with Fabio about as well. And and then that leads into how this plays an important role in electrification as well, and regenerative braking, which is one thing that you haven't mentioned actually um yet. And I'd be keen to hear a little bit about that because uh that goes from braking just being sorry, just in inverted commas being a safety and practical technology to something which actually supports uh propulsion. It helps with recharging or putting some power back into the battery. Um Fabi, you were nodding there.

Speaker 1 15:23

Yeah, actually, I mean we are coming back again with the same word, which is integration. Okay, so when I started working in brakes, uh brakes was uh one of the silos, which uh was the typical way we were developing cars. Umada, when you are talking about vehicle development, you're talking about longitudinal dynamics development, lateral dynamic development, active system development. Um so there is a huge contribution of uh, let's say electronic integration, but um the way of working together uh between brakes and power trim, um it's uh it's incredible. There are plenty of different items which are affecting uh the way we developed and we think about cars. Um so brake system went from a purely mechanical interface between the driver and the vehicle to something which is, I would say, managed by a software. Uh, the software is deciding how to blend the hydraulic torque, the hydraulic force which is generated by the brake, by the region effect on the vehicle. This is having a massive effect on how the vehicle management, uh the vehicle energy management is behaving in terms of um range of the vehicle itself, but it's bringing with itself some big challenges. Um I have a couple of in mind. One is that uh I will say, let's keep it simple. So traditional brakes can't be hacked. Um, brake by wire system, I mean, could be hacked, let's say, let's put it simple. So it's also interesting from the regulatory perspective, uh, how uh regulatory bodies, uh, European Commission, for instance, they're um thinking about specific uh way of um implementing cybersecurity in all the aspects of the vehicle. Actually, we already have uh regulations from United Nations uh covering these aspects. But there's also another aspect which is uh super interesting and is affecting the whole vehicle development. But you are mentioning you are mentioning about software-defined vehicles. Uh, if you're talking about, let's say, software-defined chassis. I mean, most of the vehicles which are going into the market now can be updated like uh your uh mobile phone. Okay, so uh you can really change the behavior of vehicles through over-the-air updates. Okay, so uh there is a certain challenge. Uh can your brake pedal fill change overnight? Okay, um how can we manage that? Obviously, the answer is no. There are there is certain legislation that makes this uh robust enough in order to make change pedal fill overnight, but also to change the, let's say, homologation uh approval of vehicles. So um the change which we're talking before is not purely technical. So it's not something that we as engineers like a lot to implement because in advancing on technology cost reduction and so on, but this is um uh possibly one of the first times in the recent year when uh these kind of changes are heavily affecting the final um the final customer. So the final customer is uh perceiving the uh the effect uh of this changing into their, I will say, daily lives.

Speaker 2 19:03

Olivier, how has regenerative braking changed the way brake manufacturers approach the simple act of stopping?

Speaker 19:13

But you you you have uh two ways to to address this question. So the the first one, of course, uh regenerative braking, sorry, uh is a way to slow down the car, saving energy, which is uh the fundamental basis of hybridation or electric management as soon as you have a battery in a car. Uh on this point, also uh I will say the corner point of view on the system point of view is uh is a chance because as an other phenomenon uh physical phenomenon you are able to manage the torque level in the corner at the wheel, which is a positive torque, the classic power train action to move the car, to accelerate the car, or a negative torque to break the car, or by power train actions, by full transmission or motor and so on, or by brake assistance or brake action. So as soon as you are able to manage all the physics in the corner to be homogeneous in a torque level, you are able to manage in a most accurate way the balance between the local brake action or the local power train regen action. And by the way, to the end customer, you are able to tune to calibrate in the best way or a more sportive behavior of the car, or a more comfortable, or a more transparent uh segregation between standard power train regeneration or uh brake participation of the generation.

Speaker 2 20:49

So, what does traditional friction breaking look like over the next 10-20 years as electrification becomes more and more part of uh normal mainstream automotive product development?

Speaker 21:02

Uh it will be uh we we are today at the very beginning of a very challenging and interesting story because uh you have the standard first step that you have uh a standard caliper electrify in the corner with a standard power train internal commotion engine or motor with a gearbox and a transmission, or you have more and more uh near to the corner capability to put and to integrate traction facility in wheel motors is the extreme way, or motor near the wheel with a separate transmission, and you don't have differential, you have active power train uh torque segregation or sharing, I will say. Uh and by the way, you have new opportunity as a trans system point of view to define new compromise into the wheel, because by the way, the corner integrates. The brake, the wheel, the suspension, the steering, a part of the traction. So you have the opportunity to redefine the mechanical integration of all the components, but also the functional integration of these components to have new opportunity for the compromise, because a corner is has all vehicle components a compromise, addressing the dynamics, longitudinal traction and braking, the lateral dynamics with the dynamic behavior of the car, the comfort with the suspension, the unspring mass on the dynamic calibration of the car, but also the noise and vibration due to the road solicitation to the wheels. And all this, uh integrating new function, new way of managing this function is a magnificent challenging way to open new fields for new prestations and new performances for the car and the end on the end user, which is the driver, and the occupants of the car.

Speaker 2 22:57

So we've talked a lot about how the consumer feels braking and how that's part of the driving process. The way that consumers actually know that there's a certain type of brake or brake manufacturer on their vehicle is if they have a high-end car and it actually has the calipers visible through the wheels, nice red or yellow calipers, maybe gold if it's really high-end, and then the logo of the brake manufacturer is visible through the spokes of the uh of the wheel. But as as I said, that's generally visible on high-end cars. I I know that Brembo, for example, is is uh across the the value chain of of vehicles. Um what I want to talk about though is a little bit about uh high-end cars and particularly motorsport. We had uh uh Pascal Vassalon of Toyota, uh vice president of Toyota Racing on the podcast recently, and he was talking about the technology transfer between track and road. I'm keen to hear from you, Olivier, how you use motorsport as a do you use motorsport as a testbed for brake technology and and how that might uh feed then into road cars.

Speaker 24:06

Uh competition is a way uh not only to test but to um to grasp new ideas on new fields of application. Uh and there's a lot of uh example with the technology coming from competition on a sportive car uh into the the the the common daily uh personal cars we use uh you and me every day. Uh and it's uh first a material, I will say lab. We are able to test new features, new material, uh, but also it's also a way to push the extreme limit of how to manage the system behavior and the system uh we say control laws to take the more potential of the components you you design. So it's the constant challenge will push you to the limit, and by the way, with the exigence of the competition because you cannot fail, because uh if you have a failure during your S, you lose the REST by the way. So you need to be quick, to be accurate, and to be hundred percent sure that you your system will be fiable and usable for the the duration of the REST. By the way, it's a fun fundamental and fun static way to to build your mindset to take the most uh the the best part uh of the performance and the accuracy of your system.

Speaker 2 25:35

Yeah, really good. Thank you. Um Fabio, you mentioned a word earlier that I um is something that plays on my mind when we're talking about breaking technology, use the word silos, breaking is developed in silo from other areas, and we'll talk about the corner module in a moment, but one of the things you do with FICITA, you know, the ADA and Brembo are both FICITA members and both members of the advanced chassis technology expert group. Fabio, you chair that group. Just talk a little bit about what the the purpose of that group is and what we're trying to do there.

Speaker 1 26:09

Okay, I think that actually uh I will say that uh this is an exciting opportunity um not only for um I will say tier ones, but also for OEMs to find uh, I will call it a neutral environment, okay, where they can share and discuss uh about, I will call it hot topics. Uh why this is having a big added value for me because we are fostering the discussion between companies which are located in Europe, companies which are located in Asia, companies which are located in North and South America. Um this is a big added value for the community of people which is meeting on a monthly basis in the group. Uh so it's not purely networking, but I will call it positive technical discussion between the members. Uh and then we also have a big objective which is uh let's call it dissemination, so um to share with the technical communities uh in different ways. Uh congresses for sure. Uh we have the Eurobreak shortly in Mains in a couple of weeks, uh, but we also have uh uh the possibility of using uh much more modern channel of discussion in order to discuss hot topics. Now currently we have identified three of them. Um the first one, uh, which is obviously the usage of artificial intelligence within uh uh the chassis domain. Um then the harmonization of uh uh of working paths uh within vehicle development and vehicle uh and chassis management, let's call it like this, and finally we have identified the last topic, which is uh combining a little bit uh what we call social responsibility of such a big group, which is education. Okay, so how we how can we influence uh the academy and the education system uh in order to train uh the chassis engineers of the future? So this is very connected with what we were saying before. Um young engineers are still uh coming from university, from the academy, from master's degrees with a very siloed, with a very sectorized uh background. Uh we have a proficient mechanical engineer, we have proficient aerospace engineer, we have proficient electronic engineers, but uh the future, not only uh as companies, but I will say as a society, is going through um integration of knowledge and distributing the knowledge uh within different disciplines. So this is uh uh I will say the biggest part of the work uh which we are doing is heading into these uh three big directions. So artificial intelligence, harmonization of working paths, and um uh education.

Speaker 2 29:17

And the idea is to bring together uh vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, and other specialists, uh not just in braking, but wheels, tires, uh chassis components, ride and handling, motion control, all of that feeds nicely into what I want to also address with both of you, which is this concept, and we've talked about it a few times of the corner module. Uh uh Olivier, uh give us a little snapshot of uh the history of the idea of the corner module, whether it's you know what it's what its sort of uh success has been to date, it doesn't exist right now, uh, and why it might be beneficial to start thinking about corner modules.

Speaker 29:57

Uh the the history of the corner module is is very long, by the way, even if it's only a peer now, uh, because it starts with a dream, you know. Uh first uh the the the corner challenge was to integrate in the best way the different components. And the beginning of the story, like Fabio said, uh the world of automotive, like all the industrial world, was very seloted. So you have UMs, you have tier one, and you have specialties who have quite uh limitation to speak with the other and to make compromise and to make synthesis. So with time and with system point of view and project uh management declination, uh the silos start to break down. And by the way, people start to talk to each other and address really the entire system uh coordination and collaborative way of work. So this is basically standard story, but on the corner level, it also a dream from the vehicle architect because uh the corner is also a key point to build a car because you have the transmission, you have the steering, you have the brake. Uh all these components have a specific integration constraint into the vehicle, and it limits you as a vehicle architect to build the the space for the occupant into the vehicle. So the space allocation of the vehicle is totally linked to the system compromise in the architecture you made in the corner. So to break the wall into the corner can influence the vehicle design in this globally. So it's a very interesting and long long long way to change step by step all this to uh be able to uh to address new vehicle architecture, new features, and new performance for the occupants and the driver of the vehicle. And by the way, uh with the electronic feature, the software development feature, we are able to address more and more accurately the control on the behavior of each component, and we were able to break the walls between the component action to make more integrated components, then more integrated systems. And at the end of the day, which will be uh one day the reality, the integration of the physical part of the kernel into the vehicle. And with the platform mindset what occurs uh decades ago, uh, if you are able to imagine with especially with electrification, you know we are talking about uh skateboard architecture with a standard frame with the battery in the center of the vehicle, and you have the capability to plug different corner abilities depending on which car you are building, a sportive car, a comfortable car, an autonomous car also, because you may have specific needs for this application. And if you are able to imagine a standard platform with the standard electric power train with the battery and the motors and so on, you are able to plug, like you want, different corners with different width, diameter, and volume, and so on, to make differentiation in the steel of the vehicle. Uh, in this point of view, the ecosystem of the uh of the corner became the real plug-and-play adaptative, real module in the real sense of the module meaning uh you can plug on the standard architecture of the car. This is in a very few words uh the the the sum-up of the mindset of the corner synthesis evolution.

Speaker 2 33:38

Fabio Olivier called it a dream. Um, do you think that dream can ever become reality?

Speaker 1 33:43

I will say that I mean we have to be realistic and pragmatic. If we look at what happened 30 years ago, um some companies they started with a very um, I will say, with an engineering fantasy, I will say somebody was even talking about uh swapping corners between your vehicle. Okay, so you have a summer corner, you have a winter corner, you have that corner for your truck base. I think that we have to be realistic, and this is uh this was an engineering fantasy, and the history demonstrated uh that um this has a clear advantage when you're talking about skateboard platform, which is a skateboard platform. Skateboard platform, just to make it simple, is uh um a standardized platform with, as Olivia was saying, a battery in the middle, which companies can use in order to produce different types of vehicles. So, in this case, everybody can see a big advantage of having um corner modules. So developing with one platform different types of vehicle, which is the big technical difficulty which was happening 30 years ago, 20 years ago, more or less. Um this was very connected, the corner module was very connected with uh in-wheel motors. Okay, in-wheel motors, um, in some cases they were very heavy, so having very big unsprung mass per corner. Um they were quite complicated to be integrated for well, not only for unsprung uh masses, but also for uh the thermal management itself. I mean the brakes is generating heat, the motor is generating heat, everything is in a very confined space. So um somebody was thinking about adding water cooling. Uh and then also durability. I mean, the wheel environment is brutal. Okay, so you have water, you have salt, you have impacts. Um so in-wheel motor was still a complex uh solution. Now it seems that we are moving into what we could call near-wheel motors for skateboard platforms. Okay, um, this is bringing enormous advantages in terms of um development, in terms of integration, but also in terms of controls. Um so if I can look at the corner module in the next few years, uh, I will really say that the skateboard EV platform are creating a natural uh, I will say, integration opportunity, but um I will say that this will be started, or I will not say confined, but starting from commercial vehicle, uh, from the commercial vehicle application with uh uh particularly lower speeds, uh predictable rules in order to prove the viability of these. And actually, we are having some of these uh uh approaches uh currently uh currently fully integrated within some vehicles in the market, some electric vehicles in the market. Okay, so I will say that uh uh we have to move from the engineering fantasy uh to a much more pragmatic approach in order to develop these uh uh this approach in the future. It is true uh that um Asian companies, Chinese companies particularly, uh they are pushing hard in order to make uh the corner module a reality.

Speaker 2 37:17

Olivier, are you moving from engineering fantasy to uh engineering reality with this?

Speaker 37:24

For sure, we are in on the and jump on the Fabio's remark because in the truck uh application field, you have already not corner module, but you have already axle modules. So you have basically three kinds of axles. You have the steering axle, you have the transmission and powered axle, and you have the supporting axle. So this kind of standardization of function can also be sought in the corner point of view to try to have quite standardizable corners, which is uh even if it's not an in-wheel motor if we have a transmission, to have a transmission corner or only a breaking steering corner or only a breaking corner. So this kind of segregation on system point of view is already alive because uh once more with the bywire feature, it's easier to plug a wire on a corner interface with with any change of the platform core skeleton because the wire of the platform is the same, and the function is totally defined by the component on the software management you put in the vehicle to address the corner. So the story is ongoing, and for sure with a full uh dry by wire system with Rainbow, you we are in, sure.

Martin Kahl 38:44

Well, I think it's clear from all that you've said over the last half hour or so that braking really is about more than just stopping. But for now, Fabio, Olivier, thank you for being on FISITA's Beyond the Car podcast. The corner module is a concept that's been in the minds of chassis engineers for decades, ever since I can remember. Seats, dashboards, headliners, HVAC, bumpers, all these are developed and assembled as modules. But when the vehicle meets the road, there's much less modularisation and a higher component cap. Wheels, tires, brakes, steering, suspension, riding handling, and motion control all are developed in relative silos, something which we're addressing with the seat of advanced chassis technology expert group, which, as you heard, is chaired by Fabio. And the influence of electrification, STV, AI and automation all underpin new thinking in advanced chassis technology design and development, as we just heard, could be the formula that helps turn this engineering fantasy into reality.

Martin Kahl 39:42

I'd like to thank Olivier and Fabio for the discussion. Head to Brembo.com and Atlas Idead to learn about their work. You can, of course, find out more about FISITA at FISITA.com. And if you'd like to be involved in this podcast or any other FISITA activity, reach out and get in touch.

Martin Kahl 39:59

Thanks to Martyn Strong for production duties, as ever, and finally, thank you for listening to this episode FISITA 's Beyond the Car podcast.