Passenger Car Brake-by-Wire and AEB Market Research Report, 2024

1. EHB penetration rate exceeded 40% in 2024H1 and is expected to overshoot 50% within the year
In 2024H1, the installations of electro-hydraulic brake (EHB) approached 4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 101%; the installation rate exceeded 40%, up 19.9 percentage points compared with the same period last year, the EHB market has kept prosper.

The hot brake-by-wire market is largely driven by the new energy market. Brake-by-wire meets a series of requirements of new energy vehicles, such as no vacuum power source, high requirements for system response speed, and brake energy recovery. The following figure shows the sales and penetration rate of new energy vehicles from 2021 to June 2024. From the data, the growth trend of brake-by-wire installations and installation rate is highly consistent with that of new energy vehicle sales and penetration rate.

From the perspective of EHB technology classification, the share of One-Box has further expanded. In 2024H1, the share of One-Box increased to 75.9%, an increase of 17.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

2. Some OEMs have taken the lead in completing the layout of brake-by-wire industry chain

Some OEMs, mainly Chinese independent brands, have entered the brake-by-wire market by setting up subsidiaries or joint ventures with other manufacturers. By 2024, many OEMs have completed mass production of brake-by-wire products.

Geely - VCS Technology
Founded in May 2022, VCS Technology focuses on the R&D and production of 3 core chassis systems, namely brake-by-wire, steer-by-wire and suspension-by-wire, as well as chassis domain controllers.

In December 2023, VCS Technology's One-Box product HDBS was mass-produced and rolled off the production line, with an expected annual output of 600,000 sets. The system can realize brake assist, conventional ESC functions and intelligent driver assist functions, and the response time can reach within 150ms. Its application range can cover fuel, all-electric and hybrid models, and can also be applied to some light commercial vehicles. It is reported that VCS Technology HDBS will be the first to be equipped on Geely brands after mass production.

3. EMB expects to achieve small-scale mass production by 2026 at the latest

It is an industry consensus that EMB is truly brake-by-wire. Although the research history of EMB system has been more than 20 years, it is difficult to overcome a series of technical problems such as 'high requirements for motors, no fail-safe backup braking function, and high cost', and EMB system has not been applied in large quantities so far. However, in recent years, Chinese and foreign manufacturers have made great progress in EMB research and development. According to the plans of various manufacturers, it is expected that EMB will be able to achieve small-scale mass production by 2026 at the latest.

Beijing West Industries (BWI)'S EMB will be mass-produced in 2026, with the first batch to be launched in Kaiyi Auto and U POWER

In July 2024, BWI released the '2035 Full X-by-wire' global technology strategy, which mentioned that BWI's electronic mechanical braking system (EMB) has obtained strategic cooperation with Kaiyi Automobile and U POWER, and will be mass-produced for customers in 2026. Its product features include:

BWI's EMB system integrates ABS, ESC, TCS, ACC, etc. The self-developed dual-motor EMB system dramatically accelerates the response speed, and the wheel locking time is as short as 75ms. Four-wheel independent control maximizes braking stability.

Without servo mechanism or ESC module, BWI EMB realizes truly x-by-wire. The system is completely free of braking pipe, while left and right rudder structures are unified, reducing space requirements and enhancing the possibility of lightweight and compactness.

Utilizes plug-in electronic structural interfaces, eliminating the need for filling or discharge brake fluid and simplifying the assembly process.

Once finished braking, the BWI EMB system releases calipers instantly, achieving true zero drag, effectively lowering energy consumption and reducing CO2 & particulate matter emissions.