Air suspension company Shijia Technology secures exclusive contract for an MPV model from a leading automaker | Early-stage project

36Kr learned that Shijia Technology, a domestic air suspension supplier, has won the exclusive contract for an MPV model of a leading automaker. The project will start SOP (Delivery) in the fourth quarter of this year. 36Kr understands that this vehicle is positioned in the mid - to large - sized MPV market and is a benchmark model in the Chinese MPV industry.

Wu Weimin, the founder of Shijia Technology, told 36Kr, "The company has spent a great deal of effort to enter the supply chain of this vehicle. One of the most prominent selling points of MPVs is comfort, and this vehicle is especially so. The main impact of the air suspension on the user experience lies in comfort. Therefore, winning the exclusive contract for this vehicle means that Shijia Technology is at the forefront of the industry in terms of the comfort dimension of the air suspension."

Eight - in - one integrated closed - type air supply module + Adaptive sky/ground damping algorithm with thousand - level adjustment, constructing a hard - and - soft integrated competitiveness

Shijia Technology was established in 2021. It mainly researches, develops, produces, and sells core components, software and hardware, and system solutions for air suspension systems. Most of the company's founding team members come from new car - making forces and first - tier multinational suppliers. This year, 36Kr learned that "Shijia Technology has significantly upgraded its team. The former CTO of NIO (Hefei) and the former deputy dean of the NIO Hefei Research Institute have also joined Shijia Technology, serving as the chief scientist and COO respectively."

As the localization process of air suspensions accelerates, many powerful enterprises and even listed companies have emerged in the air suspension track.

Compared with other air suspension suppliers, one of Shijia Technology's advantages is its early layout. The company's main product, the electronic control module of the air suspension system, has gone through two generations of R & D: one is the first - generation control product applied to air springs, multi - chamber springs, semi - active shock absorbers, and magnetorheological shock absorbers; the other is the eight - in - one integrated closed - type air supply module.

Wu Weimin introduced to 36Kr that the eight - in - one integrated closed - type air supply module integrates multiple functional units such as an air compressor pump, solenoid valve, controller, dryer, and filter. Since it uses the internal gas - circuit circulation technology, compared with the external gas - circuit circulation technology, the entire system has a smaller volume, lower noise, and higher efficiency.

The improvement in integration and efficiency reduces the system cost. According to Shijia's calculation, compared with the current mainstream products, this solution can reduce the cost of the whole - vehicle system by several thousand yuan, which will accelerate the penetration of air suspensions into mainstream models in the 200,000 - yuan range.

In addition, this module adopts a software - hardware decoupling design and has an open - interface protocol, which can be flexibly adapted to the new - generation central computing platform and EE architecture, thereby improving the compatibility and integration efficiency of the whole - vehicle system.

Beyond hardware, Shijia Technology also attaches importance to "soft" capabilities. The company has pioneered the "Adaptive sky/ground damping algorithm with thousand - level adjustment" for adjusting the air suspension. Wu Weimin said that this algorithm can adjust the vehicle's attitude and the stiffness of the suspension according to different road conditions and driving states, making the driving experience smoother.

Breaking through in fully active suspensions, attempting to be the first company to launch a gas - circuit architecture

Shijia Technology foresees that the implementation of autonomous driving will make the chassis a more important competitive point in the automotive industry in the future. Users of autonomous vehicles will emphasize the "smooth - as - silk" driving experience, and this experience mainly relies on the upgrade of air suspension technology. Therefore, more intelligent and comfortable fully active suspensions will become the new favorite in the industry with the opportunity of autonomous driving.

However, the localization rate of fully active suspensions is not high. Currently, the Zunjie S800, NIO ET9, and the upcoming new - generation Li L9 are all equipped with products from overseas suppliers.

Shijia Technology spotted the opportunity of fully active suspensions early and has made significant investments in this direction. On the basis of the semi - active suspension system, the company has introduced hydraulic active power. Thus, this fully active suspension system can actively control the spring stiffness and the vehicle's attitude, realizing real - time adjustment of the vehicle's vertical, pitching, and rolling dynamics. Shijia Technology estimates that the performance of the fully active system has increased by about 30% compared with the traditional semi - active solution.

There are two technical paths for fully active suspensions: system + hydraulic and magnetorheological + linear motor. Shijia Technology has chosen the former, "which is similar to ZF's technical route." Wu Weimin explained the company's choice of the technical route in this way: "The hydraulic system has higher durability and maturity, so the product can be launched faster, and the company can occupy the market earlier. If we choose the magnetorheological + linear motor route, we need to overcome the durability problem, and the corresponding products will take 3 - 5 years to be applied."

Currently, Shijia Technology is the first domestic air suspension supplier in the industry to complete the research and development of the core technology of fully active suspensions. The company is conducting POC verification (concept verification in the early stage of the project) for a large - scale overseas customer.

In addition, Shijia Technology is exploring to complete the last link of the fully active suspension - pre - scanning. Wu Weimin told 36Kr, "Without pre - scanning, it can't really be called an active suspension. Pre - scanning requires the combination of vehicle engineering and intelligence. Shijia Technology is planning to complete the real closed - loop of the fully active suspension by investing in a vision company."

To build a deeper moat for the company, Shijia Technology is also trying to become a platform technology company for high - pressure gas circuits, "supplying gas not only to the suspension but also to seats, tires, and camera cleaning systems." Wu Weimin's vision is that no company in the world has launched a gas - circuit architecture yet, and Shijia Technology will strive to be the first. "This is also the company's production strategy of walking on two legs."

In terms of technology and products, Shijia Technology is trying to expand the company's boundaries, but in terms of the choice of tracks and customers, it is relatively focused. Regarding the quite popular embodied intelligence track in recent years, Shijia Technology admitted that the company has received an order with a relatively large amount in embodied intelligence this year, but the company does not plan to enter this track rashly. "Unless we find a product that can solve the pain points of embodied intelligence, we won't tell stories."

On March 20th this year, Shijia Technology's factory in Pinghu, Zhejiang, with an annual production capacity of 500,000 sets, was officially completed. Shijia Technology now has stronger industrialization capabilities. In the future, Shijia Technology will undoubtedly become an important force in promoting the localization of fully active suspensions.