China Passenger Car Digital Chassis Research Report, 2026

Research on Digital Chassis: Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Version 2.0

1. Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Digital Chassis 2.0

By the degree of wired control of each component of digital chassis and the degree of chassis coordinated control, the development of the digital chassis is divided into three stages:

Stage 1.0: Partial chassis-by-wire, with no chassis coordinated control yet; the market is dominated by overseas suppliers, and OEMs lay out chassis-by-wire by way of investment or establishment of subsidiaries.

Stage 2.0: Higher wired control degree of chassis, with fusion control realized in two or three of the XYZ directions; Chinese suppliers enter the market and seize a certain market share, and OEMs begin to launch digital chassis brands.

Stage 3.0: Full chassis-by-wire, with XYZ three-way fusion control of the chassis; Chinese and overseas suppliers compete on the same stage on an equal footing, and OEMs complete the construction of digital chassis brands and begin to explore the possibility of linkage between the chassis, intelligent driving and cockpit.

At present, leading OEMs have completed configuration of Version 2.0, and it is expected that some brands will achieve the leap to Version 3.0 within 2026.

OEM Digital Chassis Case 1: Geely

In 2024, Geely's AI Digital Chassis made a debut at the Auto China. To date, this digital chassis solution has been applied to models such as Geely Boyue L, Xingyue L, Galaxy M9 and Zeekr 9X.

Geely AI Digital Chassis Architecture:

Current stage (Primary Digitalization): Road preview is realized with sensors such as lidar and cameras, combined with AI full-scenario perception and recognition. Then, the primary Geely Vehicle Motion Control (GVMC) center realizes XYZ coordinated control to improve vehicle response agility, comfort and stability. Finally, the chassis command actions are completed via drive-by-wire actuators.

Medium term (Intelligentization): With multi-channel lidar + high-definition cameras, combined with AI perception and recognition, XYZ three-way coordinated control with mid-level GVMC fusion perception, and high-precision preview, a super magic carpet is realized, and the action execution is finally completed via fully wire-controlled actuators.

Future (Chassis Agent): Global perception information fusion of vehicle + road + cloud, combined with high-level GVMC to realize full-scenario recognition + full-scenario coordination, creating a chassis agent tailored to individuals. On the chassis execution side, a fully decoupled and fully fused wheel-end integrated module is planned and configured.

Vehicle Model Case Based on Geely AI Digital Chassis - Zeekr 9X

Zeekr 9X is a representative model with the Haohan AI Digital Chassis. Through the deep integration of perception + AI and the digital chassis, combined with the industry-first dual-chamber air suspension + dual-valve CCD and active stabilizer bar, it offers intelligent adaptive all-terrain control and intelligent crosswind control functions for the first time.

"Hard" Power:

Suspension: Closed dual-chamber air suspension (maximum adjustment stroke of 110mm, maximum ground clearance of 288mm, 30mm lift in 7s) + dual-valve CCD damper (independent control of compression and rebound, damping bandwidth 2-3 times higher than single-valve CCD)

48V active stabilizer bar: 0.2s transient response, 1400N*m lift torque, 80mm lift height

Steering: Front wheel electric power steering + rear wheel steering (+-5°)

Braking: Brake-by-wire

Control: The self-developed chassis AI algorithm coordinates and commands multi-domain actuators such as chassis, powertrain and cockpit.

"Soft" Power:

Chassis XYZ three-way + powertrain domain fusion control

Intelligent crosswind prevention control: The body controller captures sudden wind direction change signals in real time, and instantly activates the cooperation between the active stabilizer bar and CCD electromagnetic damper to form a triple protection system of "anti-roll" - "posture stabilization" - "center of gravity lowering".

Full-scenario tire burst control: Simultaneous tire burst of two wheels on one side of a split road, stable braking at 120km/h.

Active chassis lift in side collision: The ABC control system can wake up the active stabilizer bar to urgently lift the body by 80mm within 0.5 seconds, making the strongest threshold beam of the body bear the impact and protecting the safety of occupants in the car.

OEM Digital Chassis Case 2: IM Motors

In November 2025, the VMC Lingxi Digital Chassis 3.0 was launched and equipped on the IM LS9. In terms of technical configuration, the IM LS9 is equipped with:

Front wheel steer-by-wire, rear wheel steering angle of +-12°

Closed dual-chamber air suspension with an adjustment stroke of 150mm

Continental MK C2 brake-by-wire

Vector four-wheel drive system

VMC 3.0, supporting XYZ three-way coordinated control

Based on the above technical capabilities, the IM LS9 has the following performance:

Extreme turning radius of 4.953 meters (IM LS9 body length of 5.279 meters)

The electronically controlled suspension is upgraded to dual-chamber with faster response, reducing the roll angle by 46% and avoiding the discomfort of "driving a large vehicle like a boat".

The chassis can perform up to 14 cross-domain control operations, and adjust vehicle dynamics in real time to suppress motion sickness by reducing the swing amplitude.

Tire burst stabilization system: the system intervenes in 200ms in the event of a tire burst.

Active Anti-roll 3.0: during emergency avoidance, the high-speed control of intelligent four-wheel steering can reduce the rollover risk by up to 54%.

OEM Digital Chassis Case 3: MAEXTRO

For example, based on Huawei Tuling Longxing Platform, the MAEXTRO S800 has realized the coordinated control of the chassis in X, Y and Z directions. The platform integrates a perception and prediction network. With vehicle surrounding environment information obtained by the ADS sensors, as well as cloud data information and the owner's driving intention information, combined with the out-of-control reasoning suspension and full-dimensional coordinated control model, it realizes "active perception, central control, intelligent reasoning and autonomous learning" for chassis.

The Huawei XMC Digital Chassis Engine has a built-in self-developed vehicle control module and adopts a full-domain fusion architecture to realize 6-in-1 central control (body control, powertrain control, suspension control, steering control, braking control, and thermal management control). The technologies first launched include:

Spatiotemporal intelligent suspension network: Introduce intelligent reasoning into vehicle motion control, and adjust the intelligent suspension according to the road reasoning model to make the vehicle drive as smoothly as on flat ground.

Vehicle-road status prediction network: Construct a vehicle status network to accurately predict the vehicle's status and road surface environment (body posture, road gradient, adhesion coefficient) based on real-time data from vehicle sensors.

Full-dimensional coordinated control model: Unified scheduling of steering, braking, driving and suspension systems to realize integrated control of the body in X, Y and Z directions and six-degree-of-freedom coordination to achieve the overall optimal state of the vehicle.

The differential advantage of Huawei Tuling Longxing Platform lies in its "cross-domain fusion architecture", which enables full-dimensional fusion control of the three major domains and six actuators of a vehicle: body domain, powertrain domain (driving, thermal management) and chassis domain (suspension, steering, braking). It changes the traditional situation where each domain and each actuator are controlled independently without interference. In addition, combined with the parameter input (radar, camera, etc.) of sensors in the intelligent driving domain, it constructs a road space model in real time, realizing the evolution of control and decision from post-event to pre-event.

2. AI Enables Digital Chassis

The application of AI in intelligent cockpits has significantly improved the user experience of cockpit voice interaction and IVI interaction. Following cockpit, AI is introduced into intelligent driving and chassis. In chassis, AI is often used for chassis perception and decision links.

In the chassis perception link, AI is used to process information from external sensors such as cameras and lidar to judge the current road condition of the vehicle. AI also judges the current body status with internal sensors such as acceleration sensor and suspension stroke sensor. Based on the above perception data, the "matching degree between body status and road condition" is analyzed in real time, and the optimal control strategy is generated.

In the control link, AI coordinates suspension, steering, braking, driving, rear wheel steering and other actuators to realize six-degree-of-freedom integrated control. In the case of Zeekr's AI digital chassis, in the control link, it real-timely calls the computing power and perception capability of intelligent driving, and coordinates and commands multi-domain actuators such as chassis, powertrain and cockpit via the self-developed chassis AI algorithm.

ZF Adds AI Road Sense - Intelligently Linking Sensor Data with Chassis Data

At the 2026 CES, ZF launched AI Road Sense, a software system solution, as an important part of ZF's Chassis 2.0 strategy, further driving the transformation of the chassis into the digital age.

The Premium configuration version of AI Road Sense can accurately identify the road conditions ahead, such as deep snow/shallow snow, road potholes, mud, sand, and rocks, with lidar (which scans the road profile up to 25 meters ahead with an accuracy of two centimeters), cameras and chassis CAN bus signals (tire slip rate, torque increase, etc.). The system intelligently detects the depth and firmness of the ground and automatically selects the optimal drive strategy. In addition, this raw data is then processed and utilized by ZF's chassis software cubiX to coordinate the control of smart actuators such as our semiactive damping system Continuous Damping Control (CDC) or the active damping system sMOTION. Future smart actuator integration will include steer- and brake-by wire for even more advanced control and capability.

In addition to chassis perception, for a premium and customized driving experience, the software can also enable Driver Behavior Recognition, analyzing throttle, brake and steering inputs along with in-vehicle and external conditions to predict driving style and preferences for enhanced comfort. This capability enables a highly personalized and adaptive driving experience across chassis and powertrain systems.