The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, has been a cornerstone of the Indian automotive industry's progress for nearly six decades. It has played a pivotal role in introducing sustainable and safer automotive technologies while supporting industry and government initiatives to elevate Indian standards to match global benchmarks.

Since its establishment on 10 December 1966, ARAI has transformed from a testing agency into a comprehensive research and technology deployment organisation. Today, it provides integrated services across three key domains: Research and Development (R&D), Certification and Skill Development.

On its 58th Annual Day, ARAI highlighted its contributions to the mobility sector, showcasing its role in promoting safety, innovation, and sustainability. Recent advancements include the launch of state-of-the-art facilities such as the Airbag Deployment Facility, Advanced Accelerated Sled, Advanced Photometry & Optics Laboratory and the Advanced Noise Vibration & Harshness Developmental Centre.

The institution is also equipped with world-class facilities to evaluate vehicle safety under New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) protocols, aligning Indian standards with global benchmarks.

The upcoming Mobility Research Centre (MRC) in Takwe aims to further enhance ARAI’s capabilities. Proposed facilities include an ADAS Smart City Test Track, Cylinder Test and Certification Centre, Hydrogen Test Facility, and a High Energy Impact Test (HEIT) Facility, which will be the first of its kind in India and Asia, accredited to ISO 17025. Additionally, the MRC will empower local cylinder manufacturers to test products domestically, supporting the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. At ARAI’s Chakan Centre, an Advanced Battery Safety Testing Facility is being established to ensure compliance with evolving safety standards for electric vehicles in India.

In recent years, ARAI has undertaken a variety of R&D projects in emerging areas such as electric vehicles, autonomous driving and advanced engine development. Key projects include:

• AC/DC Charging Stations and LEV AC Charge Points
• Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS)
• Battery Management Systems
• Drive-by-wire Platforms
• Advanced engines such as a 600 hp unit and BS-VI-compliant HCV CNG engines
• Lightweight aluminum extrusion profiles
• Ergonomic dummy kinematics assessment under the SIZE India project
• Hydrogen PEM-based electric three-wheelers for extended range

To support alternative energy solutions, ARAI has established an Alternate Fuel Centre, focusing on fuels such as methanol, hydrogen, HCNG, ethanol, LNG, biodiesel and bio-CNG, among others.

Dr. Reji Mathai, Director of ARAI, commented, “At ARAI, our continuous focus is on addressing the evolving needs of the automotive industry. Transformation has been the cornerstone of ARAI’s journey. Beyond the automotive sector, we are expanding our services to aerospace and railways. Platforms like TechNovuss, ARAI-AMTIF (a Section 8 company), and our Technical Support Cell provide vital support to MSMEs and startups. Skill development is a key priority for us, with ARAI Academy offering diverse programs for students and professionals. Through flagship events like SIAT and initiatives like Mobility Hackathons and BAJA, we aim to foster innovation and disseminate research knowledge.”

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European ride-hailing platform Bolt has selected the NVIDIA Alpamayo Stack autonomous driving software to operate its vehicle fleet in Europe, starting with Lucid automobiles.

The deployment commences in Madrid in 2027, with subsequent deployment planned in Germany and France. The initiative supports the integration of at least 25,000 Level 4-ready Lucid vehicles equipped with NVIDIA Hyperion compute and sensor architecture. The program contributes to Bolt's objective of deploying 100,000 autonomous vehicles across Europe and the UNECE region by 2035. The system integrates reasoning artificial intelligence with perception and planning modules alongside NVIDIA Halos safety controls.

Jevgeni Kabanov, President and Head of Autonomous Driving, Bolt, said, “Autonomous driving will change how people move around cities, and Europe should play a major role in how that future is built. Our ambition isn't to bring autonomous driving to just a handful of cities. We want to make autonomous ride-hailing available at scale across Europe, with 100,000 vehicles on our platform by 2035. We're bringing together some of the best technologies in the world to make that possible. Following our first autonomous mobility launch in Luxembourg, our next step with NVIDIA and Lucid is to begin a programme in Madrid in 2027. The Region of Madrid is pioneering a structured framework for commercial autonomous mobility in coordination with national authorities. Germany will also be a priority for what comes next, with cities already setting out clear ambitions for autonomous mobility.”

Rishi Dhall, Vice-President of Automotive, NVIDIA, said, “Robotaxis will scale when every vehicle is built on a common, safety-engineered foundation. NVIDIA Hyperion standardises the compute and sensor architecture across vehicle platforms, while NVIDIA Alpamayo Stack and Halos provide the driving intelligence and safety foundation. Bolt’s European platform, operational experience and work with cities and regulators make it a strong partner to bring autonomous ride-hailing to market at scale in Europe.”

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French tier 1 supplier Valeo has announced plans to develop and industrialise high-performance compute platforms utilising the NVIDIA Hyperion reference architecture and NVIDIA Halos safety system.

The initiative combines Valeo's vehicle integration capabilities with centralised computing architectures to support software-defined mobility systems. The platform utilises the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor architecture to deliver processing performance and redundancy for Level 4 autonomous driving, commercial trucking and robotaxi applications. The development framework enables automakers to integrate features and deploy autonomous technologies across vehicle models.

Marc Vrecko, Chief Executive Officer, Valeo Brain Division, said, "Our work with NVIDIA marks a significant milestone in our mission to make autonomous driving a safe, scalable reality. By seamlessly integrating NVIDIA’s advanced compute power into our next-generation platforms, we are delivering the flexible, centralised intelligence vehicle manufacturers require to redefine the driving experience and meet the evolving demands of tomorrow’s intelligent vehicles."

Rishi Dhall, Vice-President of Automotive, NVIDIA, said, "Valeo’s expertise in high-performance computing, vehicle integration and automotive-scale industrialisation will help automakers adopt NVIDIA Hyperion and NVIDIA Halos at production scale. Together, NVIDIA and Valeo are providing the AI performance, functional safety and scalability needed to accelerate the development of Level 4 autonomous vehicles and robotaxis."

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HCLTech has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) verification and validation platform utilising NVIDIA simulation tools, agentic systems and open models.

The offering targets vehicle manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers to automate software validation workflows and accelerate release cycles. Built on a simulation-first operating model, the platform connects requirements, test creation, execution, analysis and compliance reporting.

The system integrates HCLTech's engineering expertise and validation model with NVIDIA Omniverse, Cosmos, Alpamayo, NuRec and Isaac Sim technologies to generate scenarios in virtual environments, reducing reliance on physical testing.

Additionally, the platform utilises the NVIDIA Agent Toolkit to orchestrate AI agents powered by Nemotron open models across the validation lifecycle.

Pankaj Tagra, Chief Growth Officer and Global Head of Mobility, HCLTech, said, “Automotive software is evolving faster than traditional validation processes were designed to handle. Frequent software updates, increasingly complex vehicle systems and the need to demonstrate compliance across changing configurations can make validation slow, fragmented and difficult to scale. Powered by NVIDIA, HCLTech’s V&V for Auto is designed to help organisations shift from periodic, labor-intensive testing to continuous, intelligent validation, using simulation and AI to make software release decisions with greater speed and confidence.”

Dr. Sebastian Scheurle, EMEA Industry Lead of Automotive Enterprise, NVIDIA, said, “Validation now sets the pace for software-defined vehicles. With NVIDIA Omniverse, Cosmos and Nemotron at its core, this solution leverages world-class simulation and AI capabilities to support automakers in their journey towards moving more testing into simulation, covering rare and safety-critical scenarios earlier and releasing software with greater confidence.”

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HARMAN has received recognition from the AutoTech Breakthrough Awards, marking the fourth consecutive year the company has been honoured by the market intelligence organisation. The Ready Aware platform received the Driver Safety Solution designation for 2026.

Ready Aware operates as a software-defined vehicle-to-network solution that integrates infrastructure feeds, vehicle telemetry, cloud analytics and digital twin data to provide contextual in-vehicle warnings.

The system processes information regarding road conditions, weather, traffic hazards and signal timing to deliver alerts beyond the driver's line of sight. The architecture works with existing 4G and 5G cellular hardware and vehicle cloud environments, enabling automakers to deploy software updates without hardware modifications. The platform supports Euro NCAP compliance requirements and offers over 15 safety use cases, including intersection warnings, red-light notifications and hazard alerts.

Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AutoTech Breakthrough, said, “HARMAN Ready Aware is redefining vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. Almost a quarter of U.S. traffic deaths and roughly half of injuries are related to intersections. Cameras and sensors can be limited by physical occlusions and, on their own, may not have access to information about upcoming signal changes or other traffic conditions. Ready Aware’s software-defined model connects the intelligence already present in cities and connected vehicles, then delivers it to the driver as a timely, contextual alert. Ready Aware turns infrastructure data, vehicle telemetry and cloud analytics into actionable driver awareness—available today, scalable tomorrow, and quickly deployable.”

The system uses a cloud analytics and scoring layer named the Confidence Engine to filter data feeds, reduce false alerts and prioritise notifications to minimise distraction. Automakers can integrate the software via client-to-cloud or cloud-to-cloud configurations to support subscription services and feature monetisation.

Suman Sehra, Global Head of Connectivity Product and Portfolio Management, HARMAN, said, “Ready Aware gives automakers a flexible way to move connected vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. By transforming real-time road intelligence into timely, contextual alerts, Ready Aware helps drivers anticipate hazards before they come into view while giving automakers a scalable foundation to continuously enhance safety through software. This recognition reflects HARMAN’s vision for safer, more informed mobility.”

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