Published

ZF to Develop Its Own Self-Driving Electric Car

ZF Friedrichshafen AG, best-known for powertrain components and vehicle electronics, is getting into the electric-vehicle market.
#electronics

Share

ZF Friedrichshafen AG, best-known for powertrain components and vehicle electronics, is getting into the electric-vehicle market.

The company tells reporters at the IAA show in Hanover, Germany, that it expects to put its all-electric, self-driving delivery vehicle concept, dubbed the ZF Innovation Van, it into production within two years.

The project is part of the company’s five-year, €12 billion ($14 billion) investment in electrified powertrains and autonomous vehicle technologies.

The self-driving van is designed to provide “last-mile” service in city centers. ZF says the vehicle will have Level 4 autonomy. The van will use a camera, radar and lidar sensors to navigate streets that lack lane markers, move around double-parked vehicles and “read” traffic lights.

When two delivery points are near each other, the vehicle’s driver/delivery person can walk from one to the other and use a remote-control “follow me” device to order the van to tag along. ZF says the same function can be used to drop off the driver when parking isn’t available at the first stop and drive autonomously to the next delivery point.

RELATED CONTENT

  • On Traffic Jams, Vehicle Size, Building EVs and more

    From building electric vehicles—and training to do so—to considering traffic and its implication on drivers and vehicle size—there are plenty of considerations for people and their utilization of technology in the industry.

  • On Military Trucks, Euro Car Sales, Mazda Drops and More

    Did you know Mack is making military dump trucks from commercial vehicles or that Ford tied with Daimler in Euro vehicle sales or the Mazda6 is soon to be a thing of the past or Alexa can be more readily integrated or about Honda’s new EV strategy? All that and more are found here.

  • 2018 Ford EcoSport: Small Is the New Big

    Eric Loeffler, chief program engineer for the 2018 Ford EcoSport, recalls driving home from work one day from the product development center in Brazil where work was underway on developing the vehicle that will be coming to the U.S. in 2018, having been launched in 2003 in South America and is now become available in 140 countries around the world.

Gardner Business Media - Strategic Business Solutions