CIIC Showcased at China-SAE Congress and Exhibition 2024

From November 12 to 14, 2024, the China-SAE Congress and Exhibition 2024 (SAECCE 2024) and the 2024 Intelligent Electrified Chassis Systems Conference (ICHASSIS 2024) were held at the Chongqing Science Hall. Contemporary Amperex Intelligence Technology (Shanghai) Limited (CAIT-SH) showcased its CIIC (CATL integrated intelligent chassis) and related technologies at the events.

CAIT-SH's booth received distinguished visitors, including Su Bo, Vice Chairman of the Economic Committee of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Director of the National Smart Manufacturing Expert Committee, and former Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology; Fu Yuwu, Honorary Chairman of China-SAE; Li Jun, Honorary Chairman of China-SAE, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Professor at Tsinghua University; Zhang Jinhua, Chairman of China-SAE; Hou Fushen, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of China-SAE; Zhang Junzhi, Professor at Tsinghua University, among other leaders and experts.

During the events, CAIT-SH Chief Technology Officer Cai Jianyong delivered a keynote speech on “Thoughts on Skateboard Chassis for Advanced Autonomous Driving” at the main forum on “Intelligent Chassis System Reconstruction and Innovative Development for Software-Defined Vehicles.” Dr. Zhuang Zhaohui, Vice President of CAIT-SH, participated in the “Intelligent Chassis” technical forum, discussing industry trends in new driving units and skateboard chassis innovation with his presentation on “Distributed Electric Drive System for Integrated Intelligent Chassis.”

Driven by Demand, Skateboard Chassis Become Ideal Partner for Scenario-Specific and Personalized Vehicles

The convergence of electrification and intelligence has ushered in an era of user-centric experiences and scenario-specific vehicles. The skateboard chassis, with its revolutionary system architecture and design philosophy, has emerged as the ideal partner for the manufacturing of scenario-specific and personalized vehicles. In recent years, an industry consensus about skateboard chassis has been forming: skateboard chassis will drive automotive design toward greater modularity, personalization, and intelligence, enabling more professional and efficient specialization in the design, research, development, and manufacturing of upper and lower vehicle bodies.

The CIIC (CATL integrated intelligent chassis) from CAIT-SH Is a highly intelligent skateboard chassis characterized by “upper and lower decoupling, high-level integration, and open architecture.” Functioning as an independent mobile energy carrier, the CIIC serves as a motion center, energy center, and data center. The CIIC incorporates the vehicle's drive, steering, and suspension systems into a single, complete chassis. Its platform design enables scalable hardware and software. This design is complemented by a rich suite of toolkits, including diverse energy storage and electric drive solutions. Leveraging standardized interfaces, various vehicle models can be flexibly matched with different solutions.

Showcased at the exhibition were the CIIC-S (small platform) and CIIC-M (medium platform). The CIIC-S features a completely flat floor design and supports CTC, battery swapping, and other energy storage solutions. The CIIC-M utilizes total “by-wire” technology to achieve complete upper and lower vehicle body decoupling by eliminating the mechanical connection between the brake pedal and the electronic control unit. It works with an 800V SiC high-efficiency electric drive system, featuring a modular design that allows seamless integration of various drive configurations, such as distributed and centralized drive options, to meet diverse customer needs. The exhibition's component display area garnered significant interest from OEMs, universities, and industry professionals involved in research and development, who showed particular interest in the CIIC intelligent low-voltage power distribution system (PDC 2.0) and the CIIC distributed electric drive system. CAIT-SH is actively developing the CIIC-L platform to complement the CIIC-S and CIIC-M.

The Future is Now. CAIT-SH Keeps Exploring and Applying CIIC Applications for Advanced Autonomous Driving

As vehicles transform into intelligent mobile spaces, they have to code with increasingly diverse demands. Advanced autonomous driving is crucial to future scenarios, such as Robotaxis, Robobuses, Robovans, and Robotrucks (“RoboX”). However, as Cai Jianyong highlighted in his presentation, the widespread adoption of RoboX still faces considerable challenges.

Technological challenges lie in developing full by-wire technology that enables faster chassis response and higher control precision; implementing full redundancy design for enhanced safety and backup capabilities; achieving complete hardware-software decoupling to accommodate upper body replacement and rapid iteration of advanced autonomous driving. Commercial challenges include small-scale deployment, rapid launch, and easy scalability. The initial phase of RoboX involves small-scale deployments and high R&D costs. Time is essential in launching new products, as fast validation largely determines market penetration. The scalability of a RoboX platform to support diverse applications represents a significant hurdle.

To address these challenges, CAIT-SH has focused R&D on fully redundant design, integrated dynamic models, and standardized electrical interfaces for its CIIC. In terms of redundancy, a redundant low-voltage power distribution unit (PDC) ensures vehicle control and safety under all circumstances with two redundant schemes available. To enhance communication reliability, dual-channel CAN communication is implemented, combining heterogeneous CAN FD and Ethernet technologies to guarantee stable transmission of vehicle control information. For intelligent driving control, the CIIC incorporates a multi-degree-of-freedom vehicle model, providing precise control and boundary control capabilities for autonomous driving systems. Anticipating future upgrades to intelligent features, standardized electrical interfaces are provided to ensure the replacement and upgrading of upper body software and hardware, including autonomous driving systems.

The CIIC can not only significantly shorten vehicle development cycles but also provide an efficient and convenient platform for realizing personalized and intelligent applications. CAIT-SH remains committed to empowering industry partners to achieve a future of more efficient, safer, and more intelligent mobility through continuous innovation.