Continental, a global technology company, has partnered with the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to scale up OnBoard, an innovative solution designed to enhance mobility for visually impaired passengers. This initiative, launched in 2023 under Continental’s CSR programme Conscience, was developed in collaboration with IIT Delhi and the Raised Lines Foundation (RLF). The technology assists visually impaired individuals in safely boarding buses by providing real-time audio cues.

Following a successful pilot on 25 BMTC buses, the project has now expanded to an additional 100 buses, with plans to equip 500 buses across Bengaluru. The announcement was made during a press conference at the BMTC Central Office, attended by Karnataka’s Transport Minister, Ramalinga Reddy.

OnBoard was initially developed at IIT Delhi with support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The technology was later transferred to RLF, an IIT Delhi-incubated nonprofit. The system uses bus-mounted speakers to announce route numbers and guide passengers to entry doors, ensuring a seamless boarding experience.

So far, installations have been completed on the 401K and 401R routes, with the next phase set to begin in mid-July. Production of additional units is underway, with full implementation expected by August 2024. Extensive field testing conducted by RLF and Enable India in Bengaluru confirmed the device’s effectiveness under various weather conditions, including rain, heat and dust while maintaining stable connectivity.

The launch event featured a live demonstration and media interactions, emphasising the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing inclusive mobility solutions. Continental and BMTC’s collaboration highlights a shared commitment to making public transportation accessible for all.

Prashanth Doreswamy, President and CEO, Continental, said, “At Continental, we believe that mobility must be inclusive and accessible, it should lie at the very core of innovation. Therefore, through our CSR initiative, we aim to empower every individual with the freedom of movement. Technology has opened up a world of possibilities, and this is just a steppingstone. As a technology company, we see it as our responsibility to help shape the future of mobility, which is not just connected, autonomous, shared and electric but also inclusive. We are proud to work with BMTC in supporting the vision of a more connected and accessible Bengaluru.”

Ramachandran R, Managing Director, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), said, “This project is a flagship initiative for inclusive urban mobility in Bengaluru. BMTC recognises that OnBoard is a crucial step towards making the city’s public transport system more accessible and inclusive, bringing it on par with other leading global cities. At BMTC, we are fully committed to this initiative and are aligning all internal efforts to ensure its smooth and timely deployment across our fleet.”

Prof M Balakrishnan, Honorary Professor, IIT Delhi and Chairman, Raised Lines Foundation, said, “Industry-academia collaboration has always been crucial while addressing any real-world challenges, and the OnBoard solution is a testament to that. Its deployment across the BMTC network will allow visually impaired individuals to navigate public transport. At IIT Delhi, we are excited and very proud to see a technology we have contributed to making such a meaningful difference in people’s lives, bringing the benefits of inclusive design to the heart of urban mobility. At Raised Lines Foundation, our mission has been empowerment of persons with visual impairment by providing access to inclusive solutions with focus on mobility, education and independent living.”

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Nexteer Automotive has announced that its Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB) is ready for mass production following extensive development and validation. First introduced as a concept at Auto Shanghai 2025, the EMB completes Nexteer’s Motion-by-Wire portfolio, allowing the company to offer integrated steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire solutions.

The EMB system has undergone a year of rigorous testing, including simulations, bench tests and extreme winter performance validation. According to the company, more than 20 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have tested the product, with several projects now moving into technical co-development.

Nexteer is leveraging its historical expertise in steering to create a unified chassis control ecosystem. This approach offers several advantages for modern vehicle architectures:

• Software-Defined Safety: Nexteer’s ‘braking-steering fusion’ software provides cross-domain redundancy, a critical requirement for Level 3 and higher autonomous driving. The software features open interfaces for rapid integration into OEM-specific architectures.
• Hardware Efficiency: By platformising actuator modules – including motors, sensors, and ASIL-D microcontrollers – Nexteer is reusing hardware components across steering and braking systems to reduce costs and development timelines.
• Global Supply Chain: The company is utilising high supplier overlap between its steering and braking divisions to achieve economies of scale through centralised procurement.

Jun Li, Senior Vice-President and APAC Division President, Nexteer Automotive, said, “The integration of Nexteer’s Steer-by-Wire and EMB isn’t just a simple ‘1+1’ — it’s a natural evolution rooted in the fundamentals of mechatronics, and a key enabler for achieving both safety and cost-effectiveness in high-level autonomous driving. Choosing Nexteer means more than just picking up two components — it means getting a complete, proven, production-ready, and cost-effective chassis motion control solution.”

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Technology firm AUMOVIO and adhesive manufacturer tesa have entered a partnership to introduce a new mechanical integration solution for automotive displays.

The collaboration focuses on a robotic bonding process that allows for debonding-on-demand, a feature designed to facilitate repairs and recycling throughout a vehicle's life cycle.

The system utilises a 2 mm wide adhesive tape that is applied robotically, providing an immediate load-bearing bond without curing time. This narrow profile enables the manufacturing of ultra-thin display bezels similar to those found in smartphones.

Unlike traditional permanent adhesives, this bond can be selectively detached with minimal effort, allowing individual display components to be replaced or reworked during production or service without discarding the entire module.

The technology is engineered to compensate for material expansion across automotive temperature ranges while supporting circular economy principles. By enabling the recovery of valuable components at the end of a vehicle's service life, the solution aligns with AUMOVIO’s sustainability strategy. The partners are currently preparing to integrate this process into volume production during the second quarter of 2026.

Pavel Prouza, Head of the User Experience (UX) Business Area at AUMOVIO, said, “The combination of highly precise, automated application and targeted detachability adds an important element to our manufacturing and quality processes. It strengthens the robustness of our production, reduces material waste, and promotes efficient use of valuable components. For the end customer, this could even mean that future repairs may require replacing only the affected individual components in a cost-effective way.”

David Caro, Head of Automotive, tesa, said, “This partnership demonstrates how innovative materials technology is advancing the mobility of tomorrow. Together with AUMOVIO, we offer automated adhesive bonds that not only provide long-term durability but can also be deliberately debonded – enabling efficient production, longer product life cycles, and circular product concepts. This helps our customers translate their sustainability goals into tangible product solutions.”

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China’s WeRide has announced that at the Wuhu round of the Second China Urban Intelligent Driving Competition, the Chery Exeed Sterra ET, powered by the WeRide WRD 3.0 (jointly developed with Bosch), claimed first place with a lead of over 10 points.

As the first publicly traded Robotaxi company, WeRide operates in over 40 cities across 12 countries. It holds autonomous driving permits in eight major markets, including the UAE, Singapore and the US, providing L2 to L4 solutions across the mobility, logistics and sanitation sectors.

This win marks the first time in the competition's history that a single solution has achieved four consecutive championships, following previous victories in Taizhou, Wenzhou and Jinhua.

The WRD 3.0 system utilises a one-stage end-to-end ADAS solution designed to handle complex urban environments. Its performance is driven by two key internal technologies:

• GENESIS Simulation World Model: A proprietary platform that uses generative AI to reproduce rare ‘long-tail’ scenarios, bridging the gap between virtual training and real-world application.
• L4 Driverless Data Integration: The system leverages large-scale data from WeRide's fully driverless operations to refine perception and planning in dense traffic, such as street markets and mixed-use urban roads.

WeRide has transitioned WRD 3.0 from an algorithmic concept to a production-ready system, achieving hardware-software decoupling that allows it to run on different computing tiers.

With the launch of the Aion N60, WeRide has become the first autonomous driving provider to achieve mass production of one-stage end-to-end technology on both Nvidia Drive and Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms.

While strengthening its presence in China with brands like GAC Trumpchi and Hyptec, WeRide is expanding its international footprint. Through partnerships with Tiggo, Omoda and JAECOO, the company aims to export its intelligent driving solutions to global markets.

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South Korea-based Stradvision, a company specialising in AI-based vision perception technology, has been selected by a global commercial vehicle manufacturer to deploy its SVNet software across its Indian vehicle lineup.

The programme focuses on fleet-scale deployment of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in a market where perception software must balance technical reliability with cost-efficiency.

The company stated that the Indian commercial vehicle sector requires ADAS solutions capable of operating on resource-constrained hardware while maintaining performance in high-density traffic.

SVNet is engineered to detect and classify objects in mixed-traffic environments, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers and pedestrians. This software architecture allows the OEM to implement functions such as automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning and lane departure warning across various models using a single software stack.

The deployment is structured to allow the manufacturer to standardise its perception platform while adjusting for model-specific hardware.

Till date, Stradvision has deployed approximately 5 million units of SVNet globally, providing the production maturity required for high-volume commercial vehicle programmes. This project indicates a shift in the automotive industry towards perception solutions that prioritises scalability and operational efficiency across diverse market conditions.

Philip Vidal, CBO, Stradvision, said, "India's commercial vehicle segment is one of the most consequential ADAS markets opening right now. The scale of the fleet, the complexity of the traffic environment, and the cost requirements make it a genuine test of whether perception software can perform where it matters most. SVNet was built for exactly this kind of deployment, and this program is a strong validation of that."

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