The portfolio of new and nearly-new products highlighted by ZF at its recent technology day at its test track at Jeversen, Germany concentrated primarily on two areas – emission reduction and the protection of vulnerable road users (VRUs).
VRU protection is currently being addressed in Europe with the roll-out of General Safety Regulation 2 (GSR2), which involves the mandatory installation of a variety of new safety devices in trucks. Transport for London’s Direct Vision Standard has been introduced to reduce the number of VRUs killed or seriously injured, with its latest development – the Progressive Safe System (PSS) – set to be implemented from October onwards so far as trucks with a zero-, one- or two-star TfL rating are concerned. Some of ZF’s safety systems anticipate where GSR2 and DVS/PSS may be heading over the next few years.
Many of the latest products ZF is offering for trucks have already appeared in cars and have been redesigned with the needs of bigger vehicles in mind. It is an approach that allows the company to spread its development costs and leverage its engineering capital. The policy would appear to be working. ZF’s commercial vehicle division grew by 20% in 2023, outperforming a market that grew by 15%. “One of our greatest strengths is our flexibility – and it’s continuing to pay off,” states ZF Group chief executive officer, Dr Holger Klein.
BOX: FAST-TRACK TESTING
AI has become a widely misused term, often describing what are in truth little better than sophisticated algorithms. Be that as it may, AI is, without doubt, allowing new technologies to be introduced far more rapidly than was the case in the past, ZF contends. At its test facility, the German supplier unveiled a cloud-based AI-driven service called Annotate, which it says allows the sensors being used in the development of semi- and fully-autonomous driving to be tested ten times quicker and an impressive 80% more cheaply.
AI can help transport managers automate a lot of their decisions, says ZF – and it has developed its SCALAR digital platform to assist them. It can rapidly measure the relative performance of different vehicles on a fleet, thereby enabling managers to deal with any anomalies that are disclosed promptly.
The quicker problems are identified and dealt with, the less it costs the operator.
BOX: HYBRID TECHNOLOGY
ZF chose the Jeversen event to unveil a hybrid version of its TraXon 2 automated heavy truck transmission, which the supplier says will be on sale during the second half of the current decade. The aim is to cut CO2 and other harmful emissions – and to also reduce fuel consumption. “We’ll be making TraXon 2 Hybrid available as everything from a mild hybrid to a plug-in,” says Professor Dr Peter Laier, a member of ZF’s board of management and in charge of the company’s commercial vehicle division. He dismisses suggestions that such a package is little better than a blind alley, given the advent of zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks.
The problem, say ZF executives, is that these solutions are not being adopted as rapidly as expected in Europe and the UK, with inadequate supporting infrastructures regularly cited as the reason. They describe demand as “stagnating” – a worrying situation for vehicle manufacturers on the hook for huge fines if they fail to meet tough CO2 reduction targets. “So we need to have transitional technologies,” says Laier.
It is not ZF’s first foray into hybrid packages for large goods vehicles. In 2023, it exhibited a semi-trailer fitted with its AxTrax 2 electric axle plus a battery as part of a system that allows energy that would otherwise be lost to be harvested whenever the tractor/trailer combination brakes. That energy could then be used to
help propel the vehicle, with fuel and CO2 savings of anywhere between 16% and 40% claimed.
Once a semi-trailer has arrived at its destination, it may have to be reversed into a loading bay – and backing up trailers can result in accidents. Aware that this is the case, ZF has unveiled a prototype rear- and side-mounted safety camera system for semi-trailers linked to the tractor unit using a data cable.
BOX: CONSUMPTION REDUCTION
What are, on the face of it, fairly mundane technical changes can make a great deal of difference to the rate at which trucks burn fuel. Set to debut in production vehicles in two or three years’ time is an energy-efficient electric power steering system for trucks, which ZF says will save approximately 0.4 litres of fuel per 100km, compared with existing steering systems.
ZF has also come up with what it describes as an 'intelligent air management' solution. This two-stage air compressor can be decoupled from the engine so that it does not pump air for the brakes and other pneumatic systems when it is not wanted. ZF claims that this makes it up to 58% more fuel-efficient than a conventional compressor.
Cut fuel usage and you reduce the amount of CO2, NOx, particulates and other harmful emissions produced by a truck’s exhaust. It is not the only source of environmentally damaging output from a vehicle, however – and regulators are increasingly homing in on the risks associated with emissions from tyres and brakes. Conscious that this is the case, ZF is spotlighting a development of its MAXX air disc brake with a filter developed in conjunction with Mann + Hummel, which should capture any particles the brake generates. Also fitted is a brake rotor that has been specially coated to increase its hardness and reduce the danger that it will be a source of harmful particles.
BOX: SAFETY SOLUTIONS
Both GSR2 and DVS/PSS involve the installation of an MOIS – Moving Off Information System – which tells the driver if somebody, or something, is walking directly in front of the truck while it is stationary. An alert is triggered if the driver starts to pull away regardless. ZF’s MOIS goes one stage further and automatically applies the brakes if the driver ignores the warning.
The brakes are also applied automatically if the driver swings left at a junction and ignores a Blind Spot Information System alert that a VRU is on the vehicle’s nearside. When the brakes come on so abruptly, ZF ensures that the seatbelts tighten instantly, nailing you to your seat in a bid to protect you from injury.
Visual and audible alarms are also being offered by ZF, which warn the driver behind the wheel of a truck that is about to change lanes on a busy motorway that there is a vehicle sitting in their blind spot. If no vehicle is present, the system allows the truck to change lanes automatically. All the driver has to do is look directly at the screen displaying the image delivered by the relevant rear view camera mirror, indicate, and the truck will move over by itself.
ZF has an autonomous emergency braking system for trucks under the OnGuardMAX banner. Originally developed by WABCO, which was acquired by ZF in 2020, it warns the driver that a collision is imminent, and can bring the vehicle to a complete halt if there is no response.
Co-ordinating the rising number of driver assistance systems being fitted to trucks and ensuring that they do not clash with one another is a challenge for automotive engineers. In response, ZF is now deploying its cubiX motion control software. Originally developed for cars, cubiX fulfils the co-ordination role by managing all the actuators.
ZF contends that the system should make it easier to control autonomous movements of trucks in locations such as distribution centres because it can translate instructions from virtual driving systems into commands which tell vehicles where they should be going. It has been tested in conjunction with Germany’s SAFE20 project, which involves driverless tugs shunting semi-trailers around transport yards.
