News - General News - Technology

Full brake-by-wire close to mainstream ready

Hydraulic brakes could become old hat with 'dry' electric systems going mainstream

24 Mar 2025

AFTER a few years in the development stage, another big change in a fundamental aspect of motoring will be brakes which are moving from 'wet' hydraulic to 'dry' electrical operation.  

 

Hydro-mechanical (hydraulic) brakes have been the staple of the automotive industry for more than a century but that is about to change to a simpler, potentially less expensive and more efficient electro-mechanical brake (EMB) system that is being developed by a number of manufacturers and has already been available in Ferrari’s SF90 Stradale since 2019. 

 

Benefits of EMB are said to include improvements to anti-lock braking (ABS) function with the pedal “buzz” a driver feels when the system engages disappearing, faster brake application, better managed front-to-rear weight transfer under brakes, brake ‘feel’ options, potential manufacturing cost reductions, fuel consumption gains (due to less pad drag), and longer component life. 

 

Competing to lead the EMB revolution are tier one auto component suppliers including Continental, Bosch, Brembo, ZF Friedrichshafen and Haldex with the first generic by-wire systems that have multiple applications coming soon from ZF and Brembo. 

 

The pair has already signed supply contracts for brake-by-wire EMB systems to go in production cars as they move away from the hydraulic system, driven in part by the transition to fully electric vehicles and the 'software defined car’. 

 

Automotive News has run a series of articles on the change, which it says is imminent, citing Brembo’s Sensify system that is expected to arrive next year. 

 

Brembo is a frontrunner in the stopping space, specialising in high-performance brakes for vehicles such as motorcycles, exotic supercars and race cars but is yet to name its EMB customer or reveal in which market segment the system will debut. 

 
Neither will ZF, known for its auto transmissions but well down the EMB development path with its first system due in 2028. 

 

AN reported that ZF chassis division head Peter Holdmann provided a hint at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January.  

 

“ZF’s contract calls for it to equip five million vehicles with EMB. And 700,000 of those vehicles will be heavy-duty pickups,” he said, probably in reference to Ford’s Super Duty trucks and similar vehicles from Chevrolet and Ram. 

 

Conventional hydraulic brakes are connected to the brake pedal by a linkage and shaft to the master cylinder which pushes fluid through a series of pipes to the pistons in the brake calipers or to smaller cylinders inside drum brakes that in turn either clamp the disc via brake pads or push outward on the drum via brake shoes. 

 

“Now, more precise computer-controlled electronic components are about to replace low-tech hydraulics,” reports AN. 

 

"Brake-by-wire can use artificial intelligence and algorithms to improve safety by shortening stopping distances and keeping vehicles more stable under emergency braking.” 

 

At the moment two types of EMB exist, a decade-old system that still uses hydraulics but has an electronic master cylinder to measure driver intent when the brake pedal is pushed and the new generation coming from Brembo and ZF which are “dry” systems. 

 

AN’s report says the incoming systems replace hydraulic callipers with electric ones that use motors to move the brake pads, rendering master cylinders, vacuum boosters and hydraulic lines redundant. 

 

“The brake pedal is connected to an electric device that measures inputs such as the speed and force the driver uses when pressing the pedal. 

 

“A pedal simulator observes driver intent though pedal travel and force and translates it into a signal that is processed through a central computer,” said ZF director of engineering Diego Cusi. 

 

“That signal is now going to be issued out to the four corners.” 

 

Tyre grip on the road creates another set of signals allowing the computer to apply different braking pressures to each wheel based on road conditions. 

 

“The signal (from each wheel) is going to be interpreted, and then it is going to command the motor to deliver a certain force,” Mr Cusi explained.

Click to share

Click below to follow us on
Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

General News articles

Motor industry news

GoAutoNews is Australia’s number one automotive industry journal covering the latest news, future and new model releases, market trends, industry personnel movements, and international events.

Download page

Car Finance