June Newsletter

Steering System - Drive-by-wire

Happy June!

As we say goodbye to spring and welcome summer, we have exciting news to report.

Our partners at Ideenion have been hard at work, the world-expert German team has been our anchor and has focused on the electromechanical side of our last remaining core technical risk: the steering system. Ideenion chose an “off-the-shelf” drive-by-wire system for the X-1 prototype. This custom application allows for safe & secure remote testing for driving and provides plug-and-play capability for our Autonomous Driving System’s development.

Click “View" or the pic below to watch the video as Christian Schrom and Stefan Schaeper demo the complete system on a prototype “Xbus” Kei Car (I want one).

This functional demo exhibits Ideenion’s capability in the auto industry to quickly execute not only on prototype development using steer-by-wire, but also the integration of the brakes & accelerator-by-wire, battery pack, inverter, and BMS/charger for the X-1 prototype. This is a Big step forward!

This is a critical derisking of the balancing / steering system: electromechanical integration. The other subsystems in the steering system are predominantly mechanical: the X-1’s proprietary chassis onboard steering mounts/joints, suspension system, wheel, and supporting steering components, followed by mass properties/characterization, and data filtering / gains refinement in the steering feedback loop for integrated controls. Future developments are better known engineering processes of integration, tolerance & hysteresis management.

The successful implementation of the drive-by-wire system is an important step before we move to the development and integration into the X-1 hybrid unibody prototype chassis. There is light at the end of the tunnel before we go HAM on the automotive development of the X-1 prototype for pre-production development. Happy to share this exciting development with you!