“3D display technology not only brings a new wow-factor into the vehicle cockpit but with the right content, it also creates a more intuitive interaction between driver and vehicle and thus enhances driving safety”, said Ulrich Lueders, head of strategy and portfolio at Continental’s business unit Human Machine Interface. “As we see this especially for 3D navigation, I am very happy that we can contribute to a better UX and safer driving environment by bringing together HERE premium map content and Leia’s Lightfield software with our expertise in automotive human-machine interface solutions.”

3D Navigation

Various studies on traffic safety show that driver distraction is among the main reasons for traffic crashes worldwide. In the US, distracted driving caused more than 2,800 fatalities in 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. It is critical to work toward intuitive UX solutions that provide drivers with the content and functions they are looking for and therefore support greater driving safety while minimising distraction in the vehicle cockpit.

“Especially in complex driving scenarios such as city traffic, it can be a real challenge for many drivers to follow navigation instructions and at the same time manoeuvre safely”, says Ulrich Lüders.

Thanks to the correct spatial reproduction of the real world offered by the 3D solution from Continental, HERE and Leia Inc drivers can grasp the necessary information quicker, better orientate themselves and stay more attentive to the driving task.

The content enabling this solution comes from HERE Premier 3D cities, consisting of HERE premium map content and highly detailed 3D representations of 75 global city centres that are fully interactive and customisable. Each building is indexed and accurate in terms of physical location, volume, elevation and façade colour. 3D terrain models also provide elevations for representative depictions of a city’s layout. Detailed 3D landmarks are included within the coverage of each city and are integrated into the 3D terrain, as well as the various styles of the surrounding buildings.

Based on Continental’s Natural 3D Display, Leia’s Lightfield technology and HERE’s 3D map content, the companies have created a joint demonstrator and plan to work with vehicle manufacturers to bring this solution into the next generation of vehicles.

Awards

Continental is bestowed with three CES 2021 Innovation Honoree Awards. Its state-of-the-art Transparent Trailer technology and its Advanced Radar Sensor (ARS) 540 were awarded in the Vehicle Intelligence and Transportation product category, while its Ac2ated sound partnership was recognised in the In-Vehicle Entertainment and Safety category.

Selections are awarded by a panel of independent expert judges, including industrial designers, engineers, and trade media members – to honour outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics products across 28 categories.

“It’s always special to be recognised among the revolutionary products in the CES Innovation Awards,” says Samir Salman, CEO, Automotive Technologies, Continental North America. “The selections not only speak to the value of our technologies, but also to the dedication of our team members globally who are constantly pushing to create new, noteworthy solutions for our customers. Recognitions like this inspire us to push further to see what additional mobility and safety solutions we can develop for the future.”

The Transparent Trailer technology extends the company’s trailering portfolio to allow drivers to “see through” a trailer in the haul and check the area behind and beside it. Based on its Surround View system, the technology enables safer driving while towing. Two cameras and a control unit work together to provide a panoramic view that renders the trailer virtually invisible. The result is a seamless live feed for drivers to see the road and any obstacles behind the trailer.

Continental’s ARS 540 is the first production-ready 4D image radar. It supports automated driving systems all the way from partial to full automation. While previous systems were only capable of capturing information on range, speed and azimuth angle, the ARS 540’s long-range radar sensor calculates an object’s location in addition to the range, speed and azimuth angle also with its elevation to create a precise map of the driving environment up to 300 meters. In particular, the radar sensor’s elevation measuring capability allows the most varied of objects, even relatively small objects, to be detected even more precisely. Moreover, the extended capability allows the ARS 540 to provide high-resolution detail for object identification to manage complex driving scenarios, even in adverse lighting and weather conditions, and at higher speeds.

The final selection is a partnership that pairs Continental and Sennheiser technology to create an immersive sound experience that eliminates reality and reproduction boundaries. The joint solution offers a scalable and adaptive sound system that supports mobility evolution towards an ever more user experience-oriented future. Continental’s Ac2ated Sound removes conventional loudspeakers from the vehicle and replaces them with small and lightweight actuators that excite surfaces. The newly added headrest audio feature provides a unique experience of individualised listening zones with an entirely invisible integration. Sennheiser’s AMBEO Mobility leverages the audio specialist’s patented AMBEO 3D audio technology to deliver an immersive and natural in-car sound experience. It is designed, calibrated and finetuned to ensure an incredibly vivid soundscape and crystal-clear communication. Combining the two technologies creates an invisible, immersive, real-life experience for all listeners in the vehicle. (MT)

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Coretura, a 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, has entered into an engineering agreement with Accenture to accelerate the development of a software platform for commercial vehicles.

The company, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, currently employs over 100 engineers. It continues to recruit specialists in system architecture, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure to support its roadmap, which targets the delivery of its first commercialised products towards the end of the decade.

Coretura intends to create a single software platform, language and standard for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty transport vehicles. The platform is designed to support vehicle lifecycles of more than 15 years, moving the industry away from projects that require custom software development for each new vehicle.

As the engineering partner, Accenture will support development across several areas, including:

• Electrical and Electronic (E/E) architecture
• Software abstraction and hardware integration
• Embedded software, middleware, and cybersecurity
• Functional safety and cloud infrastructure

The platform aims to provide a reusable software stack to lower costs and standardise time-to-market for global manufacturers. For fleet operators, the system is designed to allow for continuous software updates and performance upgrades delivered over the air.

Johan Lunden, CEO, Coretura, said, “Our purpose is to advance mobility at the speed of ideas, and that takes depth. Building a full-stack SDV platform demands expertise across embedded software, middleware, cybersecurity, and functional safety, all designed for vehicles with lifecycles measured in decades. Accenture’s reinvention capabilities let us move faster without compromising the standards our customers depend on. This is acceleration, not course correction.”

Rainer Oder, SDV Embedded Software Lead, Accenture, added, “Helping the industry advance software-defined vehicles is a priority for Accenture. Our landmark collaboration with Coretura is designed to change embedded software engineering for automotive platforms. Together, we are looking to solve the challenges of a fully software-defined architecture – addressing critical areas such as hardware abstraction, API management and AI-based engineering optimisations.”

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The ePlane Company has announced the completion of its full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X. Designated PT-01, the prototype has successfully integrated all core subsystems into a single structure, marking the transition from design and simulation to physical testing.

The e200X is designed as a single airframe versatile enough to serve three distinct markets – Passenger Air Taxi, Urban Cargo Carrier and Air Ambulance.

The company emphasises that the aircraft was designed to be compact, allowing it to integrate into existing urban infrastructure without requiring significant city redesigns.

Developed at the company's own facilities in Chennai, the e200X features in-house development of major components, including propellers, airframe structure, landing gear and battery pack.

This vertical integration provides the company with control over performance, manufacturing costs, and iteration speed, having reached this milestone on approximately USD 21 million in funding.

With assembly complete, the e200X will now undergo ground testing, flight testing and certification.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company, said, "We set out to build an electric aircraft to a world-class benchmark, engineered and manufactured in depth in India for the World.  We deliberately designed the e200X to be compact, because an aircraft that asks a city to rebuild itself around it will not solve the problem it was built to solve. The same airframe can move people as an air taxi, carry goods as a cargo aircraft, and save lives as an air ambulance, and it can do all three using the infrastructure cities already have. That combination of real capability and capital efficiency is how we intend to compete, and win, in markets around the world.”

The company’s board includes prominent figures such as Vishesh Rajaram (Speciale Invest), Eash Sundaram (JetBlue) and Aditya Ghosh (Homage, Akasa Air). The venture, incubated at IIT Madras, has also received international recognition, including being showcased at Bharat Innovates 2026 and featured in Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has marked a new milestone for its automotive product offering with its electric vehicle.

The company has announced a significant milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by completing the first official autonomous lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany with the Xiaomi YU7 GT, equipped with a Track Package, navigating the 20.8 km circuit without a human driver, recording a lap time of 10:29.483.

Following this performance, the Nurburgring has introduced a new official vehicle category: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles).

The Xiaomi YU7 GT autonomously navigated all 73 corners of the Nordschleife, managing 300 metres of elevation change and varying road surface conditions. The performance was driven by Xiaomi’s autonomous driving system, which integrates the Xiaomi XLA architecture and the MiMo-Embodied foundation model introduced in March 2026. The end-to-end architecture enabled the vehicle to coordinate steering, braking and power delivery in real-time, maintaining stability under high-speed and high-load conditions.

Xiaomi’s autonomous driving programme has evolved since the 2024 launch of Xiaomi HAD. The current system moves beyond simple behaviour imitation toward autonomous decision-making and deeper environmental interpretation. The company stated that the Nurburgring project serves as a critical testing ground to collect data for refining vehicle dynamics modelling, control strategy optimisation and safety redundancy mechanisms.

This achievement underscores Xiaomi’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence in the automotive sector through rigorous real-world validation.

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QuantumScape Corporation has announced a multi-year joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.

The collaboration focuses on advancing QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery platform, including the development of associated manufacturing processes.

This agreement follows a successful technology evaluation period during which Honda conducted a technical study and competitive benchmarking of QuantumScape’s battery platform.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence, Honda R&D Co, said, “QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership.”

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President, QuantumScape, added, “Honda is a leading global automaker renowned for its engineering excellence and product quality across automotive and other applications worldwide, and its evaluation represents one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date. This agreement reflects the growing confidence in QS solid-state lithium-metal batteries to enable safer, higher-density energy storage.”

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