Intelligent connected electric vehicles (EVs) are widely considered as a trend in the global automotive industry to make transportation safer, cleaner and more comfortable. As an important component of intelligent connected EVs, the brake-by-wire (BBW) system is the key to determining the performance of the vehicle and the efficiency of braking energy recovery. BBW systems are showing great promise in the area of vehicle braking due to the increasing requirements on safety and energy efficiency of vehicles. In recent years, BBW systems have undergone great changes in terms of structure and control methods, not only increasing safety and energy recovery efficiency, but also integrating more functions. Although important advancements have been achieved in this field, these works have not been fully summarised. This paper surveys and summarizes the research in literature to bring topical information to the field of intelligent transportation systems. The objective of this study is to present an overview of both the development trend and key technologies of the BBW system for intelligent connected EVs. Firstly, the development, structure and core components of BBW system are described. Secondly, the control method and control strategy of BBW system are analyzed. As much as the system shows great promise, the problems existing on its current technology should be addressed as well. Finally, some important countermeasures are proposed to solve the existing technical problems of the BBW system.