Bosch Unveils New Brake Technology
41 comments
·September 17, 2025MarkusWandel
topspin
> If ABS can make the brakes not brake even as you fully stomp the pedal - is there a reasonably conceivable failure mode that would simply prevent you from braking despite perfectly good hydraulics and a stomped pedal?
The answer is not simple, as it has changed over time.
Early anti-lock systems were so limited that the system would, indeed, fail to utilize the maximum possible braking force. This was known, and yet these were deployed, because the research said that maintaining directional control, the primary benefit of anti-lock, had greater safety value than the compromise of maximum braking performance.
Today, however, anti-lock is greatly improved, and anti-lock systems are capable of applying extremely high braking force, even to the point of exceeding thermal design limits (overheat) of the brake system components. The sensors are sampling at higher frequency, the braking models are far more accurate and the computers are faster in current vehicles. So current anti-lock can perform at near the absolute limit.
Further, current systems can actually detect panic. Drivers often fail to even use the full braking force available. Current vehicles can detect when sudden, high braking force is applied, switch into "emergency mode" and boost braking force beyond what the driver is demanding.
These features started appearing in the early 2000's. Nissan, for instance, introduced "Brake Assist" in 2001 with the Altima redesign. It has the "panic mode" behavior I've described.
ejiblabahaba
I think the question was less about the efficacy of ABS, and more about the failure mode. Is it possible for the ABS system to "fail open" unintentionally, such that depressing the brake pedal has no effect whatsoever?
WarOnPrivacy
The new tech is a Brake-by-Wire system controlled by a touch-sensitive pad.
I did my best to extract details from the article's mountain of seo fluff. I think Bosch is trying to maximize complexity of a safety-critical system by deeply integrating it into all the other bits of the car.
Okay. We do build war aircraft that way and they're awesome but they also need a steady stream of $billions to keep them flying.
My recommendation if Bosch wants to be a radical leader in auto tech, invent tactile controls and place them where they can be reached w/o taking eyes off of roads.
Then blow everyone away by inventing non-blinding headlights.
kbos87
Non-blinding headlights already exist. Modern projection headlights can map where the light ends up on the road to illuminate your path while avoiding oncoming traffic. It just isn't widely adopted (in the US at least) as of yet.
sojournerc
It is here and sucks on curvy roads. My commute is down a mountain canyon and if I'm on the outside of a curve (turning left) the incoming traffic does not detect my headlights and I'm blinded for the entire curve. I want them banned. How hard is switching between high and low beams?
mlyle
We're not talking about auto high-beams. We're talking about headlights that mask out a portion (of even the normal beam) based on where other cars are.
kylebenzle
[dead]
yakz
Adaptive headlights have only been approved for use in the US for ~3 years. They were sold in cars in the US before that, but the adaptive function was disabled.
SkyPuncher
My truck was sold with them built in, but disabled. Turned it on via OBDII. Best feature of this vehicle.
On country roads, it’s extremely valuable for keeping the shoulder lit up with high beams to see things like fear and bicycle.
eqvinox
> Modern projection headlights can map where the light ends up on the road to illuminate your path while avoiding oncoming traffic.
Ask any EU trucker about this and they will curse you out with the most creative expletives you have heard in your life. At least the existing systems are apparently hot garbage, especially on highways where some oncoming truck headlights might be hidden by the median yet you can still blind the trucker themselves (since they're higher up).
morninglight
My recommendation to Bosch is to blame any problems on floor mats.
SR2Z
> I think Bosch is trying to maximize complexity of a safety-critical system by deeply integrating it into all the other bits of the car.
Wait until you hear about how the brake pedal works in hybrids and EVs!
I'm only joking a little. There are good reasons to integrate the brakes with electronics in the car, with regenerative braking being the smallest of them.
thrill
I do hope the pressure-sensitive pad has some “give” in it to provide physical feedback to the driver. Way back when the F-16 first began flying in production, the side stick was rigid, and more than one pilot would return with bruised arm muscles from pulling as hard as possible wondering if they had more available. While braking in a car doesn’t have the same frequency of needing full deflection (short of having to ride with my wife’s friend driving), there’s likely to be some similar discomfort from wondering how much more braking is available.
RcouF1uZ4gsC
I heard there were some who broke it and then had to eject
commandersaki
I'm suspicious of any physical control being replaced with anything touch sensitive.
m463
waiting for... doesn't work when feet are wet.
Honestly, I think *-by-wire technology can exist, but I don't think it should be trusted to cost-reduction-at-any-cost manufacturers.
I've heard the cybertruck steer-by-wire has a control lag. And then there's the no-mechanical-escape door handles.
subscribed
I have throttle-by-wire on my motorcycle and I love it. Very precise and safe.
tracker1
I'm largely there with you... I've frankly always had mixed feelings about it. Nothing like having your brakes or steering lose pressure while driving down the highway.
That said, steering without at least hydrolic/power assist is rough on your forearms.
toast0
A vehicle setup without power steering is a lot different than a vehicle with inoperative power steering.
For one thing, they usually give you a bigger wheel, which helps with leverage. Power steering enables different steering geometries which likely wouldn't have been put together on a vehicle without power steering also.
Exclusive brake by wire and/or steer by wire seem like they will add confusion and delay, and perhaps increased risk of injury when dealing with disabled vehicles. At least in my life, it's been pretty handy to be able to get a non-responsive vehicle into neutral and push it to somewhere else in order to get it out of the way of traffic or to have better access to repair it. That often means using the vehicle steering to help direct it to a good spot, and the vehicle brakes to stop it when it gets there. Accelerator-by-wire is more acceptable, as vehicle without working electrics doesn't need a working accelerator pedal; I have driven one vehicle with what I assume was drive by wire with significant latency, it wasn't enjoyable, but it was usable.
MaciejR
Brake-by-Wire has been in production cars for quite some time, BMW has had it starting in the Gxx generation since ‘19.
grepfru_it
I believe this is fully brake by wire, where as existing brake by wire still has hydraulic backup
sans_souse
I was thinking about exactly this possibility just a few weeks ago. Always nice to see a new, innovative technology that allows higher granularity in control, without pushing additional bloat or further limiting other areas of user controls..
To anyone wondering this essentially turns your brake pedal into a gas-like brake pedal.
Now what I'm wondering is, can we tie this all to the brake-light brightness?
HPsquared
Brake lights already flash if you brake hard.
baby_souffle
As a species, people perceive brightness non-linearly and it even differs between individuals and with age. You would want to have a group of break lights could you light up in relation to the braking Force. 30% brightness is hard to figure out but one of three brake lights is easier to grock.
tracker1
I thought of such a beast for a long while... that it would be cool to have an LED array that increased in numbers based on brake pressure.
Aside: anyone else ever been driving behind a large vehicle with the brake lights out? That's a not fun exercise right there.
tekno45
how does this improve the driving experience?
Is "i wonder how hard they're breaking" really a problem?
People drive too close to each other already
m463
brake lights are already disconnected from the brake pedal. many ev brake lights will come one based on deceleration, without touching the brake pedal.
jdlshore
Terrible slop of an article that doesn’t say a single thing about why this new technology (brake-by-wire with a touch-sensitive pad) is better than existing approaches, other than it being “more sensitive.”
HPsquared
A lot of engineering of hydraulic brakes goes into minimising the pedal stroke, i.e. the distance the pedal moves when you press it hard. It makes it easier to control , supposedly. Also it's hard to tune the feel and response of hybrid braking systems where there's a transition between regenerative and hydraulic brakes. Maybe removing the mechanical link actually could simplify a few things.
warpspin
2024
null
dzhiurgis
Soooo is it disc brakes or what?
Tesla's move to unboxed model means they won't be able to have hydraulic lines. 48V means more power, but still need something like 50A per brake disc, IMO non starter for Tesla. Is it going to be batteries/supercapacitors or some other novel brake design.
HPsquared
Do brakes really need much power? It's a lot of force but a small distance.
Brake-by-wire sounds scary. In my current, recent-ish car, you can still control it - with more effort - if engine and/or electrics are out. I've had the experience of driving home with a suddenly failed alternator, watching one system after another report offline, until as I turned into my street, the power steering went too. But I was able to safely drive it to my driveway (with 7V remaining on the battery). I'd rather that cars stay that way, and not just because I'm a grumpy old man in training.
I do wonder about ABS and always have. If ABS can make the brakes not brake even as you fully stomp the pedal - is there a reasonably conceivable failure mode that would simply prevent you from braking despite perfectly good hydraulics and a stomped pedal?