- Parts supplier ZF wants to make chassis tuning for EVs as easy as playing a video game.
- Its cubiX Tuner software can control multiple actuators at the same time just by messing around with some sliders.
- There’s even a mobile app that can change the way the brakes or steering feel, all in the name of speeding up the development of new models.
As a child of the '90s, I can confidently say that I have gathered enough experience to call myself a car tuning expert—as long as it’s Need For Speed, Forza or Project Cars we’re talking about. That’s because in some of these games, it’s dead easy to set up a car just by moving some digital sliders from one position to another.
Well, that’s coming to the real world, too, thanks to ZF’s updated cubiX Tuner software. As one of the world’s leading parts suppliers, the German company has come up with a way to seamlessly communicate with multiple chassis actuators at the same time
In other words, the company’s software can talk to the vehicle’s brain to adjust settings for things like the brake-by-wire system, the electric steering rack and the electrically actuated dampers just by messing around with some sliders on a screen.
According to ZF, this can significantly speed up the development time of a new electric car because having to calibrate every single actuator in every possible position is extremely complex and takes a lot of time.
The software is particularly handy for new software-defined vehicles, which can share the same platform but wear different badges. For instance, a little-known automaker could buy CATL's skateboard chassis and then use ZF's software to instill its brand DNA into it.
"For a long time, a car's character was defined primarily by its engine," said André Engelke, Head of the Vehicle Motion Control System House at ZF. "That's changing in the age of electrification. If our customers notice during a test drive that the maximum steering angle during cornering needs adjusting, they can do it with just a few clicks. The cubiX Tuner then automatically calculates which additional parameters it needs to adjust and how.”
While fiddling with the car’s settings, the software creates a tuning map, which is then written directly to the car’s electronic brains. To make things even more interesting, the tool can calibrate and control components from other manufacturers, too, not just those made by ZF. Plus, there’s an “Expert Mode” that allows engineers to dive even deeper into fine-tuning the chassis setup.
To top it all off, the cubiX Tuner comes with a virtual environment where car companies can test their calibrations in a simulation before writing the settings to the ECU of an actual car. This makes before-and-after comparisons as easy as pie because the car doesn’t have to be tested on the track for every parameter change.
Gallery: ZF cubiX Tuner chassis software
