Responsible material selection based on defined environmental criteria
- Recycled content
- Renewable material
- Lower carbon impact materials
- Avoid substances of concern & critical raw materials
Research & Development
Looking at the Big Picture
The mission statement for our research and development is clearly defined: Safe, comfortable and affordable mobility – for everyone, everywhere. This starts with innovations for cars and commercial vehicles, and extends to technologies for industrial systems, construction machinery, marine propulsion systems and wind energy.
Customers benefit from our ability to think about new products in system landscapes and platforms and to pick up on pioneering trends. Our strength lies in technology transfer across several fields of mobility applications - including digital solutions and new vehicle architecture. This makes our development equally attractive when it comes to high-performance components and their integration into the vehicle environment.
"We are working very intensively on the topics of artificial intelligence, software-defined vehicles and digital twins."
Technology Trends
Central research and development combines ZF's specific know-how in all its technology fields with current megatrends in mobility:
We have long been following these megatrends in practice. ZF is active in cross-company networks that promote the software-defined vehicle (SofDCar) and is driving the trend forward with its own software product, the cubiX chassis control controller. With the high-performance computer ProAI, one of the central computers or domain controllers already ready for series production for robust use in cars comes from ZF. And AI algorithms have played an important role for years when it comes to optimizing our own development or production processes or enhancing our products and services.
New Lower-Emission Products: R&D Makes the Difference
Sustainability is a core element of our corporate strategy. ZF demonstrates this in detail in its annual sustainability report (PDF: 5 MB) and places great emphasis on embedding this principle across all areas of the company. Research and Development (R&D) plays a key role in this regard.
Within research and development, our goal is to design products which are circular. These enable the company to reduce its overall emissions and thus reduce its own Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF). Early in the product development stage, we check the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) and can influence (lower) the PCF. Our engineers follow clear guidelines and give preference to materials with the smallest possible carbon footprint during the development process. Where possible, they use alternative materials with lower emissions such as renewable-energy-based steel and recycled aluminum. This serves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chain.
ZF designs its products specifically for a circular economy, enabling them to be reused ideally as a whole, or at least in part, after remanufacturing. The remanufacturing of its own products is essential for extending product life cycles. This contributes significantly to improved sustainability. To gain a complete picture, we also consider the emissions generated earlier in the supply chain.
For ZF, acting sustainably is a top priority. As customers increasingly expect this, sustainability is becoming a competitive factor of growing importance.
Click on (+) to learn more about
Use of renewable energy
Use of renewable energy
- Increase energy efficiency
- Use energy with a low carbon footprint
Reduce waste
Reduce waste
- Circular business models & portfolio
- Partnerships/ ecosystem/ platform
- Skills & mindset
Rethink value creation
Rethink value creation
- Circular business models & portfolio
- Partnerships/ ecosystem/ platform
- Skills & mindset
Figures
R&D Expenditure Remains High
In the fiscal year 2025, ZF invested €3.3 billion (2024: €3.6 billion) in research and development. This corresponds to a sales share of 8.6% (2024: 8.6%).Patent Applications
In the year under review, a total of 2,043 invention disclosures (2024: 2,880) were filed by the Group.The filings led to 1,193 (2024: 1,885) new patent applications.
Invention Disclosures
2043
Filings
Main Development Locations
As a globally active technology group, the company has 20 main development sites in ten countries.
Driving Innovations
We are already successfully putting the four megatrends of artificial intelligence, software-defined vehicle, cloud edge computing and digital twins into practice. In addition, open source is also becoming increasingly important in the automotive sector. Find out more about current projects and developments here.
