Irish American automotive supplier Aptiv has opened its new technical centre in Chennai to accelerate the development of advanced vehicle technology in India. The new facility is set to host up to 500 engineers by 2026, focusing on software-defined vehicles, advanced safety and user experience technologies.

Spanning over 34,000 square feet, the new Software, Advanced Safety & User Experience (AS&UX) Technical Centre will be Aptiv's fourth technical facility in India. It will feature advanced labs and test infrastructure, with a specific focus on AI/ML-powered systems for next-generation Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and in-cabin perception. The move highlights Aptiv's commitment to supporting local automakers and tapping into India's growing automotive market.

The inauguration was attended by senior leaders from both Aptiv and Mahindra & Mahindra, including Javed Khan, Aptiv's Executive Vice-President and President of AS&UX, and R Velusamy, President of Automotive Business (Designate) at Mahindra.

Javed Khan, said, “We are proud to expand our presence in India with the launch of our new technical centre in Chennai. This centre will strengthen our ability to localise AI/ML-powered ADAS and advanced interior sensing technologies for the Indian market, reflecting our confidence in India’s engineering talent and bringing us closer to our customers – so together, we can build a safer, smarter future here in India.”

The new centre will spearhead the development of key technologies, including advanced ADAS perception tools, in-cabin sensing, and software-defined infotainment platforms. It will also contribute to Aptiv’s cloud-native architecture, leveraging integrated hardware, software and edge technologies from Wind River.

This expansion reinforces Aptiv’s existing presence in India, where the company already employs over 13,000 people across eight manufacturing plants, four technical centres, and a tooling centre. The new Chennai facility is expected to play a crucial role in advancing the company’s mission to enable intelligent, software-defined systems for the global automotive industry.

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Adient, a global leader in car seating and Autoliv, a global supplier of car safety systems, have co-developed safety solutions to enhance occupant protection in deeply reclined or ‘zero-gravity’ seating positions. The solution, which is ready for mass production, combines Adient’s new seating concept ‘Z-Guard’ with Autoliv’s safety technology.

The partners stated that zero-gravity seating is seeing an increasing demand in mid-end to high-end vehicles. However, the reclined posture can reduce the effectiveness of safety systems designed for standard upright seating.

Adient’s Z-Guard is based on the principle of Multi-Dimensional Collaborative Protection and integrates constraint and energy-absorbing technologies into a dynamic safety system. Key innovations include:

• Active Cushion Collapse Mechanism: This feature rapidly collapses the seat frame in a crash to absorb energy and adjust posture, reducing spinal impact.
• Adjustable Seat Belt Outlet: This feature adapts to passenger posture and body type, enhancing restraint and minimising risks like shoulder slippage.

Autoliv’s technology complements this with an Integrated Seatbelt System, Dynamic Lumbar Retractor, Pelvic Cushion Airbag and Head Side Airbag. These systems work to protect the head, neck, chest and pelvis.

The Z-Guard concept also allows integration with vehicle driver assistance systems. Using predictive signals, it employs motor-driven seat repositioning to adjust the occupant’s posture before a collision to reduce injury risk. If a crash cannot be detected in time, Z-Guard provides protection through dual pretensioners, cushion buffering and a collapse mechanism to prevent forward movement.

Adient is leading the commercialisation of the Z-Guard, which is scheduled for production in a high-volume model from a major global OEM.

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Alumobility, the association that supports the car industry with lightweighting, will attend the Automotive Circle’s EuroCarBody 2025 conference in Bad Nauheim, Germany, from 14^th October to 16^th October.

The conference will focus on production developments in car design and technology, with emphasis on sustainability and lightweighting.

Alumobility will present a new theoretical technical case study, conducted with a North American OEM. The study shows that converting key vehicle systems from steel to aluminium can reduce the total weight of a crossover battery electric vehicle by 20 percent without increasing vehicle cost or manufacturing complexity.

The results will be shared during a technical presentation led by Alumobility Technical Director Professor Mark White, Vice-President Mario Greco and CAE Lead Vincent Laurent. The session will highlight how aluminium-intensive designs can enable:

• Weight reduction (20 percent of total vehicle weight)
• Same or slightly lower overall cost to manufacture a vehicle
• Lower manufacturing complexity with fewer parts and joints
• Enhanced vehicle performance with fewer resources

The project findings support previous Alumobility studies on the potential of aluminium to support vehicle architectures.

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OPEN Alliance and AUTOSAR have formed a partnership to drive the adoption of Ethernet-based communication in vehicles. The collaboration aims to provide users with higher bandwidth, lower latency, and enhanced scalability between vehicle technologies.

The move seeks to address functional safety and cybersecurity requirements while avoiding duplicated work. The groups will deliver open specifications for Ethernet communication for the global automotive industry, covering areas such as the Physical Layer Specification, Switch configuration and Media Access Control Security (MACsec).

Tobias Belitz, OPEN Alliance Secretary and Renesas Networking Specialist, said, “We are delighted to announce this new collaboration with AUTOSAR. Much like OPEN Alliance, it is a global organisation encompassing leading companies within the automotive and software industry, with a unified mission to develop and establish an optimal networking strategy for modern vehicles. We look forward to working with AUTOSAR to enable greater wide scale adoption of Ethernet-based connectivity.”

Ethernet is becoming the backbone of next-generation vehicles, supporting technologies such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and the autonomous vehicle. The partnership will ensure coordination and alignment between the groups’ activities in automotive Ethernet.

Thomas Ruping, Chairperson, AUTOSAR, said, “AUTOSAR warmly welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with OPEN Alliance as an AUTOSAR Attendee. This collaboration strengthens our joint effort to advance Automotive Ethernet and Automotive Ethernet-based technologies, with a particular focus on cybersecurity and safety use cases. In consequence the collaboration will further support the global automotive industry and foster the advancement of automotive software development worldwide.”

Key areas of collaboration include the use of MACsec, which offers a low-latency and high-performance solution for vehicles. The groups will standardise OPEN Alliance specifications within the AUTOSAR framework to ensure the interoperability of Ethernet communication. Features such as Scalable Service-Oriented Middleware over Internet Protocol (SOME/IP), Diagnostics over Internet Protocol (DoIP) and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) will be mapped.

The collaboration will see joint development of TC11, TC17, TC18 and TC19, which cover Ethernet Switch requirements, MACsec, the Remote Control Protocol and Software for Switch Management.

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The Digital Twin Lab, established by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) with Micelio and IIT Guwahati Tech Park, has now become completely operational.

The lab, supported by the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI), enables simulation-led development for electric vehicles (EVs) to help startups, MSMEs and car manufacturers accelerate design, validation and deployment. Its capabilities will be showcased at Micelio’s Global Clean Mobility Summit 2025.

The facility uses a ‘Hub-and-Spoke' model, with the hub at ARAI in Pune and two spokes: one at Micelio Discovery Studio in Bengaluru and the other at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati. It became fully operational in June 2025.

Dr Reji Mathai, Director, ARAI, said, “ARAI is proud to announce the strategic expansion of its Digital Twinning services across India, extending from the western region to the eastern and southern parts of the country. As India advances towards a future of intelligent and sustainable mobility, ARAI remains committed to empowering OEMs, startups, and automotive innovators with cutting-edge mobility solutions. We are grateful to the Ministry of Industries for their continued support in driving technology-led green mobility initiatives. We also deeply value our collaboration with Micelio, our trusted partner in this endeavour and look forward to a successful journey in broadening ARAI’s national footprint.”

The lab offers digital twin modelling for EV components, including battery packs, motors and drivetrains. It provides virtual validation environments that can simulate conditions such as wear-and-tear and energy consumption. This is supported by Hardware-in-Loop testing systems and AI/ML-based simulation tools.

Shreyas Shibulal, Founder & Director, Micelio Mobility, said, "This lab represents a fundamental shift in how India approaches EV innovation. By providing access to advanced digital twin infrastructure, we are reducing time-to-market and development costs, while also enabling a new generation of Indian EV innovators to compete globally while developing solutions specifically tailored to Indian conditions and requirements."

The facility allows startups and MSMEs to validate their concepts and refine designs without large capital investments.

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