By T Murrali:

Freudenberg Performance Materials India (FPMI), part of Freudenberg Performance Materials (FPM), a global manufacturer of technical textiles, nonwovens and fibre, has been operational in India with a production site in Chennai since 1998. It has plans also to cater to the modern commercial vehicles by expanding its product portfolio.

Globally, FPM manufactures high-performance technical textiles and nonwovens for a wide range of applications including automotive, building materials, clothing, hygiene, wearables and healthcare. The FPM products / materials for automotive industry customers include mechanically bonded nonwovens for car headliners, trunk and rear seat coverings that are characterized by abrasion resistance. Besides, it caters to the OEMs with tuft backing for carpets and moulded under-body panels and wheel liners. FPM products make driving more efficient, climate friendly and comfortable. Nonwovens are lighter than woven variants and, therefore, support a more economic driving style. They help absorb sound, ensure pleasant climate inside the vehicle and help save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions.

For some of the products FPMI is an extended arm of the manufacturing locations of FPM outside India. The global company has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Korea, China, Japan, and the US; these are the locations where it has automotive manufacturing hubs.

Speaking to this publication, G Sivasailam, Managing Director, FPMI, said, “Essentially our R&D is in Germany, Korea, China, Japan, and the US which we carry to all other consuming countries. We see the Indian market as very promising in the near future. We want to warm up the market with the services and supplies from other locations, which we are currently doing. Supplies are coming in on a duty-free basis which is used in vehicles for exports. For example, many companies are exporting quite a lot to Latin America; we cater to that by supplying headliners. We also do the sun-roof for many Japanese & Korean based car manufacturers for their export models. Currently the domestic market is catered to by a few suppliers in Mumbai and Gurugram.”

There is substantial value addition for the OEMs and end-customers with the application of non-woven products in which case cost is not a criterion. Still what is preventing the OEMs here from getting them from the global companies like Freudenberg? Sivasailam said, “We use a three-denier fibre which is very fine compared with the six-denier used in the market. So the starting point itself is totally different. Secondly, the kind of binders and latex that we use are all CFC-free and they are also bio-decomposable. At the end of the day a consumer for an entry level car will look at the price. But for the premium cars, the price may not matter much.

Speaking on the advantages he said the NVH values of this product are superior to what is available in the market but the end-consumer finds it a little isometric to the value he is getting. For instance, sound absorption by the headliner is much higher than that of one made out of six-denier but the percentage difference is not necessarily the reason for making this a premium product, the consumer is unable to comprehend the difference. With the evolution of vehicles from ICE to Electric, there are enough opportunities for companies like FPM because the noise created by the IC engine nullifies the other noises while in the EV operation is silent. Therefore, “we see a big opportunity there. That is one particular area where innovation has been directed to by Freudenberg. Not only on headliners but also on back trays, hood liners, floor mats etc. We are coming up with composites which are lighter with longer life for a carpet, offering Lutraflor (Freudenberg technology) floor mats that are lighter and stronger. They have high abrasion resistance that remains despite perpetual usage. The weight here is reduced substantially and the back trays are super absorbent of noise. The hood liners take care of the temperature as well as the noise. These are the areas where we have come up with lighter material, meeting the requirements,” he said.

These products reduce the weight of the four big mats that weigh about 3.5 to 4kg by 25 percent. Overall, there is about 10-15 percent reduction over the conventional products. That’s the reason why today a lot of patronage is shown to these products; as of now they are used only in the C or D segment cars. In India it will take a little more time to reach these segments. Customer awareness level is still not high in India. However, when it comes up, the company would be able to offer a competitive product, considering the economies of scale, which would match the market trends, he said.

UV Rays Impact

Normally, UV rays raise temperature. When they are absorbed by the seats or any component temperature builds up and the a/c in the car is made to work more to maintain the temperature. There is also fuel loss. To cut it down it is necessary to reduce the amount of UV light that goes into the car which would enhance the mileage of the vehicle; passengers also will be benefited as UV rays are not good for the skin.

FPM has developed a composite material for the under-body shield to which patent is pending. “In most countries the under-body shield is metal; we are trying to replace it with a non-woven backed composite that would have the tenacity to take stones and everything hitting it at high speed. Straightaway, the weight proposition will change,” he said. Would that not affect the safety of the vehicle since, for stability, lower centre of gravity is key and this can be achieved by placing heavier stuff under body of the car? Sivasailam said the solution is to support only on the engine side; under-body shield is normally on the engine side so that stones don’t fly into the engine and hit the other parts. When there is lighter material on the front of the vehicle it actually enhances mobility. What is unique is the way the composite is made, the technology and construction; and the amount of tenacity it brings to the product to increase longevity. It’s a 100% recyclable material as well with weight saving up to 40%.

Business Opportunities

On the new opportunities for FPM, Sivasailam said, “We are also having battery separators; they are undergoing development as high storage batteries. It avoids catching fire which mitigates the risk to a great extent because of the ceramic coating. That is where e-mobility will make big commercial success. The other possibilities for the company to explore in India are the commercial vehicles, which are now getting smarter and better as vehicle makers give importance to the interiors; so there is an opportunity for them to get into this business. Even today most accidents take place due to driver fatigue. If that can be minimised it would help. The touch on the headliner or on the seat-back, everything is important. Haptic feeling is not given importance in India as of now. That is something that will be very good with a three-denier head liner. “We are also working on better acoustic properties on the trims. We have a product called Evolon which is a fine fibre technology, spun drawn with very good NVH property. We are working with Evolon in some automotive companies where we feel it can give much superior noise control,” Sivasailam said. (MT)

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Delhi NCR-headquartered electric vehicle company Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM) has partnered Electra AI to integrate battery health monitoring across its fleet operations.

The collaboration incorporates Electra AI’s analytics platform into OSM’s electric commercial vehicles. The technology enables real-time tracking, predictive maintenance and state-of-health diagnostics for battery packs. The data metrics aim to support warranty management, optimise vehicle uptime, assist financing assessments and provide residual value tracking for secondary market sales.

Uday Narang, Founder and Chairman, Omega Seiki Mobility, said, "The next phase of EV growth in India will not be driven solely by new vehicle sales, but by the creation of a credible and thriving secondary market. Battery health is the single biggest determinant of an EV's residual value, and until that can be measured transparently, the used EV market will remain constrained. Through our partnership with Electra AI, we are bringing unprecedented visibility into battery performance, enabling buyers, financiers, and fleet operators to make informed decisions with confidence. This will help improve resale values, unlock greater access to financing, and accelerate the adoption of electric mobility by ensuring that EVs remain valuable assets throughout their lifecycle."

Vivek Dhawan, Chief Strategy Officer, Omega Seiki Mobility, said, “As electric mobility scales, the industry must move beyond selling vehicles and focus on delivering intelligence that improves asset performance throughout its life. By integrating Electra AI's advanced analytics into our ecosystem, we will gain deeper operational insights that help enhance fleet productivity, reduce unplanned downtime, strengthen warranty management, and support data-driven product development. This collaboration represents an important step towards building a smarter, more efficient, and technology-led mobility ecosystem that creates tangible value for customers, partners, and stakeholders alike."

Fabrizio Martini, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Electra AI, stated: “Vehicle makers like OSM are being asked to put more capable, more affordable EVs on the road every year — and to stand behind them with confidence. Our AI Brain for Batteries platform gives them the real-world intelligence to do exactly that: design better vehicles, offer stronger assurance to their customers, and keep fleets running. That’s what battery intelligence is for — turning data into trust across the whole ecosystem, from the OEM to the financier to the operator.”

The deployment aims to support commercial fleet operators across India by reducing maintenance delays and improving total cost of ownership visibility.

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Hyundai Motor India, in partnership with Radio Mirchi, has launched the Hyundai Traffic Quality Index, a standardised traffic rating framework designed to convey real-time road conditions across seven major Indian cities. The initiative operates across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

The system translates live traffic inputs, on-ground reports and official traffic police advisories into a numerical scale from 1 to 10. The ratings are categorised into three colour-coded tiers: 1 to 3 represented in green for light traffic, 4 to 7 in yellow for moderate traffic and 8 to 10 in red for heavy congestion. Updates are broadcast over Radio Mirchi’s audio network to inform drivers during commutes without requiring direct interaction with mobile devices.

The system processes real-time location data alongside updates regarding road closures, diversions, and civic works. Hyundai Motor India and Radio Mirchi plan to expand the index to additional urban centres in subsequent phases of the project.

Virat Khullar, Head of Marketing, Hyundai Motor India, said, “At Hyundai, our commitment to road safety has always extended beyond the vehicle itself. For over three decades in India, we have continuously invested in technologies and initiatives that make mobility safer and smarter. With the Hyundai Traffic Quality Index, we are taking that commitment a step further by empowering commuters with actionable information. We believe informed and technology enabled decisions lead to safer roads, calmer driving behaviour and better commuting experience. Our vision is for Hyundai Traffic Quality Index to evolve into a daily utility that millions of Indians rely on, much like they check the weather or the Air Quality Index before stepping out.”

Yatish Mehrishi, Chief Executive Officer, ENIL, said, “Radio has always been a trusted companion for people on the move. With the Traffic Quality Index, we are taking that relationship a step further by making traffic information simpler, more consistent and more useful for everyday commuters. Our presence across cities, supported by our RJs, on-ground teams and real-time local insights, gives us a unique understanding of how people experience their daily commute. TQI brings these insights together in an easy-to-understand format that can help people make better decisions on the road. We are delighted to partner with Hyundai to build a public utility that can make urban commuting smarter and safer. It is a strong example of how media, technology and local intelligence can come together to solve an everyday consumer need.”

ACP Ravindra Pandit of Delhi Traffic Police, added, “The Hyundai Traffic Quality Index is a commendable initiative that empowers us to keep commuters informed about congestion, diversions, and other traffic-related issues on specific routes. By receiving timely and accurate updates, motorists can make informed decisions and opt for alternate routes, reducing inconvenience and easing congestion. Timely dissemination of reliable traffic information benefits both the public and traffic authorities, making overall traffic management more efficient and commuter-friendly.”

Anil Patil, Regional Transport Officer for Mumbai West, commented, “Understanding and managing traffic more effectively has become increasingly important today. TQI will help us better understand traffic conditions, improve awareness among citizens, and provide valuable support in making traffic management more efficient.”

IPS Manoj Patil, Additional Commissioner of Police for Pune City, said, “Traffic Quality Index can give the traffic police a different kind of study and analysis. Especially because it will include inputs and suggestions coming directly from citizens. So, we will get an independent understanding of the actual traffic situation. I feel this can be extremely useful for us while planning future traffic management as well as infrastructure projects. So, I really welcome this initiative If we are able to measure the traffic quality index in this manner, it will definitely have an overall impact on our deployment and the way we manage traffic.”

Dr B. Shamoondeswari, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) for Greater Chennai Police, said: “Just like AQI helps us understand air quality, TQI will help us understand traffic quality. It’s a great initiative that can make people more aware, help manage congestion, and contribute towards smoother traffic movement in our cities.”

ACP A. Krishnaiah of LB Nagar Traffic Police in Hyderabad noted: “The Hyundai Traffic Quality Index is a valuable initiative that helps commuters stay updated on traffic congestion, diversions, and other route-related issues. Access to timely and reliable traffic information enables motorists to plan their journeys better and choose alternative routes when required. This not only reduces travel inconvenience but also helps ease traffic congestion. Overall, the initiative supports both commuters and traffic authorities by making traffic management more effective, responsive, and commuter-friendly.”

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Open-source autonomous driving software company TIER IV has joined the Next-Generation Edge AI Semiconductor Research and Development Programme, led by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). The initiative focuses on the development of a software-defined system-on-chip (SoC) designed for Level 4 autonomous driving applications.

As part of the programme, a team led by Professor Yoshihiro Kawahara at the University of Tokyo is researching physical AI chip design based on specific use cases. Concurrently, TIER IV is developing the logic design for an AI chip aimed at processing inference for end-to-end autonomous driving systems. TIER IV plans to open-source the resulting logic design, compiler, and software toolchain to allow semiconductor manufacturers and developers to modify and build upon the hardware architecture.

The project focuses on developing hardware architectures tailored for Transformer AI models, which process sensor data from cameras and point clouds for perception and motion planning.

The chip design incorporates dedicated circuits for matrix multiplication and attention mechanisms, aiming to reduce power consumption from external memory transfers. To maintain software adaptability, TIER IV is integrating the Tensor Operator Set Architecture (TOSA) as an intermediate representation layer between AI frameworks such as PyTorch and the chip hardware.

The initiative also applies formal verification techniques to mathematically trace numerical consistency during AI model compilation.

Shinpei Kato, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, TIER IV, said, “Advances in AI have been accelerated by powerful computing platforms, including GPUs, which have enabled rapid progress across the industry. As Level 4 autonomous driving moves toward broader deployment, we believe the next step is to complement these platforms with computing architectures designed for real-world and real-time requirements. Through this initiative, we are introducing a software-defined and open approach to AI chip design that combines power efficiency, adaptability, transparency and verifiability. In particular, the ability to understand how an AI model is transformed for execution and to verify the correctness of that processing will be increasingly important as autonomous driving systems are deployed in safety-critical environments. By extending the open-source philosophy behind Autoware from software to AI chip design and related toolchains, we aim to create an open ecosystem in which automakers, semiconductor manufacturers and developers can build upon the technology and continue advancing their own systems. This represents an important step toward a scalable, adaptable and reliable computing foundation for Level 4 autonomous driving.”

Professor Yoshihiro Kawahara stated, “In physical AI applications such as robotics and autonomous driving, GPU power consumption has long been a major bottleneck for deployment on battery-powered devices. This project aims to fundamentally overcome this constraint through a functionally differentiated chip design backward-mapped from specific use cases. I look forward to TIER IV developing chips responsible for high-level decision-making – specifically, the high-level behavioural layer that handles the thinking process essential for end-to-end physical AI and autonomous driving. As the leading force behind Autoware, the global standard open-source software for autonomous driving, TIER IV is democratising design, with an approach spanning application requirements to hardware. This enables applied researchers to shape their ideal semiconductors. This initiative, supported by an open ecosystem, has the potential to lay the foundations for a steady stream of Japanese startups creating high-value semiconductors.”

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American automotive supplier Stoneridge, Inc. has announced details of its EVO ECU Platform, which will debut at IAA Transportation 2026 in Hanover, Germany.

The electronic control unit (ECU) is engineered for commercial vehicles, buses, coaches and off-highway applications to consolidate system architecture and support software-defined capabilities.

The platform replaces multiple individual control units with a centralised processing architecture designed to manage vehicle data, enable remote software updates and facilitate diagnostics.

The ECU is developed in collaboration with technology partner Renesas Electronics using its R-Car system-on-chip technology and the hardware is built to withstand operating conditions involving temperature variations, vibration and dust exposure.

Christian Leblanc, Global Vice-President of Product and Project Management, Stoneridge, said, “Commercial vehicles are becoming increasingly connected and intelligent, but traditional vehicle architectures were not designed to support the pace of innovation happening today. EVO provides a scalable platform that helps simplify integration, improve vehicle performance and give our customers the flexibility they need to adapt as technology continues to evolve.”

“Fleet customers were at the centre of our development process. EVO helps enable faster troubleshooting, fewer service interruptions and the ability to continuously improve vehicle capabilities throughout the vehicle lifecycle,” added Leblanc.

The software structure was developed alongside Green Hills Software to segregate safety-critical operations while allowing system updates. Additionally, Stoneridge partnered with indie Semiconductor to produce the platform's image processor, supporting camera integration and driver assistance systems.

Natalia Noblet, President and CEO, Stoneridge, said, “Our industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by increasing connectivity, automation and evolving regulatory requirements. EVO represents our commitment to helping customers navigate that transformation with a flexible platform designed to support innovation today and tomorrow.”

Aish Dubey, Vice-President and Head of the HPC SoC Division, Renesas Electronics, commented, “Stoneridge’s EVO ECU Platform demonstrates how commercial-vehicle manufacturers can modernise vehicle electronics for demanding operating environments. Our collaboration brings together Stoneridge’s commercial-vehicle expertise and Renesas’ R-Car system-on-chip, power-management and programmable mixed-signal technologies to create a scalable, automotive-grade foundation for connected and software-defined commercial vehicles.”

The system has undergone field testing within the Stoneridge Innovation Truck demonstrator vehicle, which will be exhibited alongside the platform at the Hanover trade show.

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