Accelerating Trusted Motion Control through Partnership

We began a new chapter in Nexteer’s intuitive motion control journey when we decided to partner with an industry-leader who could help us integrate our steering technologies with braking technologies. We knew that – through a well-matched partnership – we could achieve the full range of motion control and work together to accelerate advancements in automated applications. The result was the creation of a joint venture with Continental called CNXMotion (pronounced “ka-nex-motion”).

In the three years since we announced the formation of CNXMotion, this extended team has been busy working on advanced motion control systems for the evolving world of mobility including automated driving. The team has been focused on solving automakers’ autonomous challenges – such as robust system redundancies for enhanced safety.

What makes CNXMotion special is that it moves with the agility of a small start-up to expand both companies’ portfolios and capabilities by accelerating motion control innovations. It does this by combining Nexteer’s advanced steering technologies with Continental’s automated driving and advanced braking technologies. The CNXMotion team works on braking and steering systems integration, enhancing by-wire development and creating common safety architectures and strategies for redundant, operationally safe systems.

Since the formation of the JV, CNXMotion has showcased new technologies and innovations across various customer events, including winter demonstrations in Sweden. These customer events provide broad exposure to industry thought leaders in vehicle handling and Steer-by-Wire. They also demonstrate that maximum vehicle-level impact is obtained when subsystems, such as steering and braking, work together collaboratively.

CNXMotion, Nexteer and Continental are also working together on autonomous people movers. For these shuttles, Nexteer provides the steering actuators, software and integration of steering systems, while CNXMotion performs the steering and braking functional integration. Some of these people movers were scheduled to shuttle people around the city of Detroit during the 2020 North American International Auto Show, but unfortunately, that event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the world of automated driving, we continue to find solutions to the most critical challenges on this new frontier. One challenging area is to ensure robust system redundancies for enhanced safety – especially when it comes to a safety-critical function such as steering. Through CNXMotion, Nexteer accelerates and integrates motion control innovations for all levels of automation.