[Aika Car Frontier Technology Original]
Recently, chip giant Nvidia announced that it will provide its latest autonomous driving platform and chip for the domestic Yo-Run Technology, in the environment of chip shortage, why will NVIDIA provide technical support to the company that has been established for less than 1 year? In fact, in September last year, Bosch, a well-known auto parts supplier, participated in the Pre-A+ round of financing of Yo-Run Technology through its Boyuan Capital, which was only established for 5 months. At the same time, Bosch has also reached a deep cooperation with Yo-Yo Technology to fully promote its skateboard chassis technology, which is why the small company has the support of the two giants.
The skateboard chassis is to put all the power, transmission, walking, and control systems in a flat chassis, and the hard connection between the chassis and the steering wheel and pedals in the cockpit is lifted through in-line control technology, so that the cockpit can be freely arranged and designed. In 2002, GM first released the Hi-wire, a skid-plate chassis concept car that placed the hydrogen powertrain in a flat chassis and replaced the mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the front wheels with steer-by-wire technology.
Later, the development of faster and broader electricity replaced hydrogen power, speeding up the landing of the skateboard chassis. And the electronic control, motor, electric drive system is more integrated, the volume is getting smaller and smaller, coupled with the battery cells that can be tiled, these technically solve the appearance needs of "a flat chassis".
The wire-by-wire technology has long been used in the aviation field, but it has not been applied to automobiles due to regulatory constraints.
On March 10, the United States promulgated the "Driverless Car Passenger Protection Regulations" and finally clearly stated that "fully autonomous vehicles can cancel the steering wheel and throttle brake pedal", and China's standard for steer-by-wire steering ,GB 17675-2021 Basic Requirements for Automotive Steering Systems has also been implemented from January 1, 2022. These standards unconstrain the rules of the control-by-wire technology, opening a key door for the car cockpit to get rid of the steering wheel, throttle, and achieve free layout and design.
The new national standard for automotive steering systems has revised the requirements for steering control and transmission devices, and began to allow the use of electric mode, that is, steer-by-wire. The specification has been implemented from January 1, 2022.
When steering wheels and throttles are no longer necessary, and autonomous driving technology is mature enough, people have the conditions to move freely in the car. After that, the car will no longer be defined as a means of transportation, but a mobile travel space, which is like putting a home on wheels, and people can eat, play, work, and rest on the move.
Based on the same skateboard chassis, the body can be freely changed in different forms and functions, which reflects the value of the skateboard chassis to the future mode of travel.
The advantages of the skateboard chassis, in addition to the travel scenarios suitable for the era of autonomous driving, are also of transformative significance for automobile design and manufacturing. Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an expert in automotive power system, concluded, "The skateboard chassis is combined with intelligent active collision avoidance, and there will be fewer and fewer collisions in the future, and the body can be made lighter and lighter, even with plastic or cloth." The model development cycle is very short, there are infinite patterns, and the personalization is very strong. This will revolutionize automotive design and manufacturing. ”
Yo-Pao Technology said that through its skateboard chassis technology, the development cycle of a vehicle can be shortened by 6-12 months. PIX MOVING, another well-known domestic skateboard chassis company, said that through its metal 3D printing technology, the vehicle development cycle can be shortened to 1 year.
Through metal 3D printing technology, the frame of the skateboard chassis can be freely customized and manufactured quickly, which can shorten the development and manufacturing cycle of the whole vehicle.
Insist on doing the leisure run of the private car
With the support of Bosch, it took only 8 months for Yo-Yo Technology to release its skateboard chassis and cockpit space. In terms of products, Youpao Technology showcased a series of pure electric cars, MPVs, pickups, SUVs and vans.
Yo-Yo Technology has released five models with completely different positioning and functional orientations in sedans, MPVs, pickups, SUVs and vans, but their common points are based on the same skateboard chassis.
The highly integrated automotive electronics system in the skateboard chassis of Yo-Trade leaves only a universal interface to the body, which makes the chassis faster when connecting different bodies, which is the same modular design idea as the action camera insta360 ONE R. In addition, it is easier for their users to adjust various parameters such as vehicle power and steering through a unified interface.
The entire electronic system is integrated in the skateboard chassis and a uniform interface is reserved for the body, which is similar to the modular design idea of the insta360 action camera.
From this rich product lineup, it can be expected that Yo-Run Technology is still full of expectations for individual users. Whether it will vigorously expand the commercial vehicle market like other peers, we need to wait and run.
"Just as Rivian has technology giant Amazon and fuel giant Ford as two major customers, Yo-Run currently has its own Amazon and Ford," said Li Peng, founder of Yo-Pao, but who is still confidential.
A rendering of the cockpit designed by Yo-Yo shows a car with a skateboard chassis with a high degree of freedom in internal space.
Rivian, who wanted to make a private car, made his fortune with commercial vehicles
As the world's first company to apply skateboard chassis to passenger cars and achieve mass production and delivery, Rivian has the most to say. Based on the same chassis, Rivian launched the pure electric SUV R1S, pure electric pickup R1T and pure electric logistics truck.
Based on the same chassis, Rivian launched the pure electric SUV R1S, pure electric pickup R1T and pure electric logistics truck.
Rivian has mastered a large number of patents for skateboard chassis, and through the Wisdom Bud Global Patent Database, it was found that Rivian has applied for a total of 315 patents since 2011. Of these, more than 200 patents are closely related to its core skateboard chassis platform. Although there are only six patents related to autonomous driving, they have also applied for a "driver monitoring system" patent to distinguish whether the driver is conscious or not.
Rivian's patent application data over the years, blue represents the number of patents filed, green represents the number of patents granted through applications, and the yellow curve indicates the percentage change in the number of patents granted in the past year to the number of applications in that year.
The skateboard chassis used in its mass-produced pickups and SUVs provides four-wheel independent motor drive with more than 800 horsepower, which is rare in mass production passenger cars. With novel product positioning, they received many orders from individuals. The company produced a total of 1,015 skateboard chassis-based electric pickups and SUVs in 2021 and delivered 920 units.
Ford reached a partnership with Rivian in early 2019 to jointly develop Lincoln's electric model, but in November last year, the two sides announced the suspension of the cooperation. But Ford still holds a 12% stake in Rivian, which shows that Although Ford is not optimistic about the value of Rivian's skateboard chassis in the passenger car market, it still expresses a positive attitude towards its value in the commercial sector.
What really made Rivian stand firm was Amazon, one of its investors, ordered 100,000 logistics vans from Rivian in 2019, using Rivian's skateboard chassis and equipped with Amazon's custom bodywork, suspension and software. Amazon's plan proposes that "these cars must all be on the road by 2030" to ensure that Amazon achieves its goal of carbon neutrality. Amazon even proposed in the prospectus that "from the time Rivian delivers the first truck, it will enjoy the right of first refusal for all trucks for 6 years." It can be said that Amazon forced Rivian to focus on commercial vehicles.
Yo-Yo/RIVIAN
We do not make personal consumer goods, but only sell to PIX MOVING to large customers
PIX MOVING was founded in 2017, and the founder, Yu Chuan, was once an architect, so he defined the company's products as "urban mobile spaces".
The company manufactures both skateboard chassis and bodywork, but does not target individual users, but provides body customization services to companies, and their products are mainly used in the commercial field.
In early March, PIX MOVING delivered the world's first Robobus (driverless minibus) based on skateboard chassis technology to an autonomous driving technology company that will use Robobus to serve closed campuses such as airports and ports.
PIX MOVING's world's first Robobus (driverless minibus) based on skateboard chassis technology is on the road, which will serve closed campuses such as airports and ports.
In terms of bodywork, PIX MOVING has mastered the secret of quickly building chassis frames and bodies. The company used a metal 3D printing process to make the frame of the chassis, and invented a body-making method similar to a magpie nest. This set of manufacturing methods through ai software to automatically convert user needs into robots can understand the engineering documents, robots according to the needs, like the dexterous "Scissor Edward" to cut and weld metal raw materials into the body, eliminating the traditional car body from mold design to stamping, welding lengthy process, for rapid customization of production to improve efficiency.
PIX MOVING invented a new body production process, through the AI software to automatically convert user needs into robots can understand the engineering documents, robots according to the needs, like the dexterous "Scissor Edward" to cut and weld metal raw materials into the body, eliminating the traditional car body from mold design to stamping, welding the lengthy process, for rapid customization of production to improve efficiency.
In addition, all skateboard chassis adopt four-wheel independent hub motor + four-wheel steering structure, which is also one of the characteristics of this company.
All of PIX MOVING's skateboard chassis feature a four-wheel independent hub motor + four-wheel steering structure, which is also one of the company's features.
Traditional car manufacturers come to exert pressure
The Korean auto industry started late, but it is good at absorbing new technologies. In February 2020, Hyundai Motor Group announced its investment in Canoo, a skateboard chassis company in Los Angeles, to advance Hyundai's PBVs (Purpose Built Vehicles) business, which is actually a commercial vehicle. The business model of Canoo and PIX MOVING is the same, both of which are ways to provide chassis + custom body. Just a year later, Canno stopped working with Hyundai and began designing, producing and selling cars on his own.
Although the two sides did not put into production any models in this cooperation, Hyundai used the cooperation to obtain the corresponding technology and continued to invest in skateboard chassis to pave the way for the future commercial vehicle market.
As early as the CES show held in January 2020, Hyundai animated a PBV that can move freely using spherical wheels.
At CES 2020, Hyundai released a rendering of the PVB concept car, which uses spherical wheels at the bottom to facilitate its free movement, and this car shows Hyundai's vision of the future of mobility in animation.
In October 2021, Hyundai Mobis, a modern parts group, released an M.Vision 2GO concept car with four-wheel independent drive + four-wheel independent steering, which uses a skateboard chassis with full-wire control technology, a regular cargo compartment at the front of the carriage and a rear part, and Hyundai shows its functions mainly for logistics distribution.
In 2021, Hyundai Mobis released an M.Vision 2GO concept car with four-wheel independent drive + four-wheel independent steering, which adopts a skateboard chassis with full in-line control technology, and the front of the carriage can sit in the rear of the car as a regular cargo compartment, and hyundai shows its functions mainly for logistics distribution.
Two months later, Hyundai went on to release a skateboard chassis called MobED, which uses the same technology as the M.Vision 2GO, with a longer four-wheel suspension travel and the ability to maintain the level of the carrier platform on undulating terrain. Because of its smaller size, it can be used as an extension of logistics distribution to the end scene, and the distribution work is completed indoors.
Hyundai has released a skateboard chassis called MobED, which uses the same technology as the M.Vision 2GO, with a longer four-wheel suspension travel and the ability to maintain the level of the carrier platform on undulating terrain. Because of its smaller size, it can be distributed indoors.
At the beginning of this year, Hyundai Group once again released its development strategy, proposing the development direction of the skateboard chassis platform called "eS", and in the future, PBVs will not only provide logistics and distribution services, but also develop to the fields of online ride-hailing and car-sharing.
Conclusion: Skateboard chassis has developed to the present, and the most suitable application scenarios are autonomous driving public transportation, logistics distribution, and some customized mobile travel scenarios. For example, mobile office, mobile vending trucks, etc. Skateboard chassis directly facing the personal consumer market, it is still difficult to commercialize, regardless of brand recognition, or the richness of models, traditional car companies still occupy an absolute dominant position.
In the farther future, electric vehicles face serious homogenization, and highly customizable bodywork may be able to open up the private car market for skateboard chassis. Imagine that the electric vehicle power exchange mode has solved the problem of slow charging, and the "shell change" method based on the skateboard chassis may be able to solve people's concerns about the rapid replacement of electronic products, or the demand for different vehicle functions and space.
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PIX MOVING/Modern