L-R: Mathias Miedreich, CEO, ZF Group; Young Sohn, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Harman and Senior Advisor, Samsung Electronics and Christian Sobottka, CEO and President, Automotive Division, Harman.

Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) business from ZF Group for EUR 1.5 billion.

The acquisition includes ZF's automotive compute solutions, cameras, radars and ADAS software. Approximately 3,750 employees across Europe, the Americas and Asia are expected to transfer to Harman upon completion of the deal, which is scheduled for the second half of 2026.

The move is part of Harman’s strategy to transition towards software-defined vehicles (SDV). By combining ZF’s ADAS technology with its own digital cockpit products, Harman aims to develop centralised compute platforms. This architecture is intended to link safety and assisted driving functions with in-vehicle connectivity and intelligence on a shared platform.

The integration is designed to reduce system complexity for car manufacturers (OEMs), allowing for more efficient innovation cycles and the scaling of context-aware vehicle experiences.

Christian Sobottka, CEO and President, Harman’s Automotive Division, said, “The industry is at an inflection point where safety, intelligence, and in-cabin experience must come together through a unified computing architecture. With this agreement, we take a strategic step to expand our portfolio with complementary ADAS capabilities that unlock a new class of cross-domain experiences ranging from perception-informed audio cues to more personalized, situation-aware driving. Combined with Harman’s long-standing automotive expertise and supported by Samsung’s broader technology leadership, this positions us to help OEMs design the next generation of intelligent, empathetic, and connected vehicles.”

Mathias Miedreich, CEO, ZF Group, said, “With Harman, we have found the ideal partner to fully unlock the growth and innovation potential of our ADAS business. At the same time, this deal makes an important contribution to reducing our company’s debt and allows us to focus our resources on the core technologies in which ZF is a global leader.”

Young Sohn, Chairman of the Board at Harman, added, “Since acquiring Harman in 2017, the company has scaled its automotive and audio business from USD 7 billion to more than USD 11 billion today. Adding ZF’s ADAS capabilities builds on that momentum. Harman will further expand its technology foundation to deliver safer, more intelligent, and more intuitive in-vehicle experiences. This acquisition reinforces Harman’s leadership in the industry’s transformation and underscores Samsung’s long term commitment to the future of mobility.”

Following the close of the transaction, Harman will align its engineering and ADAS teams to accelerate the development of next-generation platforms. The companies have committed to maintaining support for existing programmes during the transition period. Carolin Reichert, Chief Strategy Officer of HARMAN, noted that the deal represents a ‘major milestone’ and demonstrated the company's ability to execute a ‘complex carve-out.’

The OPEN Alliance, a leading industry consortium, has issued a call for greater strategic alignment across the automotive sector to unlock the full potential of ‘automotive ethernet’.

According to the newly released Automotive Ethernet – Architecture Change Drives Growth report from Tech Insights, vehicle Ethernet ports are projected to triple from approximately 962,000 sockets in 2025 to 3.42 million by 2032.

Despite this rapid growth, the analysis highlights a significant ‘adoption gap’. A small group of advanced Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) currently installs 4.5 times more Ethernet ports per vehicle than the market average, leading to high variability in maturity levels across different regions and manufacturers.

The report predicts that the average number of Ethernet sockets per vehicle is forecasted to rise from 11 in 2025 to 27 by 2030. While 100BASE-T1 remains common, its share is declining, 1000BASE-T1 is expected to become the dominant speed grade by 2030 to support high-bandwidth backbones.

The demand for 10BASE-T1S is gaining traction in body and infotainment domains, while 2.5GBASE-T1 is being adopted for advanced sensors and cameras. Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is projected to underpin nearly 50 percent of all Ethernet-equipped vehicles by 2030.

Suma Prabhakara, President, OPEN Alliance, said, “Automotive Ethernet is set for rapid yet uneven growth as new architectures, higher sensor bandwidth and emerging applications drive a near-tripling of Ethernet sockets in vehicles by 2032. As regions like China grow in overall socket share but remain internally fragmented, the OPEN Alliance’s role in reducing variability and accelerating consistent, standards‑based adoption becomes even more important. We encourage OEMs and suppliers to align with our work and share their implementation experience.”

The report warns that fragmented strategies – where different OEMs use divergent implementation methods – risk keeping the cost of developing autonomous driving and next-generation systems ‘unnecessarily high.’

The OPEN Alliance advocates for the use of its standardised test suites to ensure interoperability and prevent costly integration delays.

Additionally, the report identifies geopolitics as the top risk factor for market stability. It also notes that SERDES (Serialiser/Deserialiser) technology will continue to grow alongside Ethernet rather than being displaced by it, as vehicles require a mix of high-speed data protocols to support complex sensor suites.

Samuel Sigfridsson, OPEN Alliance Board Member, added, “The industry cannot afford fragmented approaches. Tested, standards-based implementation will prevent the costly divergence that slows innovation.”

Representational image courtesy: Pexels/AmmyK

Bengaluru-headquartered L&T Technology Services (LTTS), a global leader in AI and Digital Engineering R&D, has entered into a strategic global partnership with Emerson, a global automation leader.

The strategic collaboration aims to accelerate system integration and product development across the industrial, transportation, semiconductor & aerospace and defence sectors.

Under the agreement, LTTS will act as a global System Integrator and technology development partner for Emerson’s NI (National Instruments) test and measurement platform. The partnership focuses on architecting software-defined, data-centric engineering environments that enhance system performance and sustainability.

As part of the understanding, LTTS will establish a dedicated CoE at its Mysuru campus in India. This hub will leverage NI hardware and software to drive applied innovation, test automation and validation workflows. The partners will co-develop solutions tailored for high-complexity sectors where resilience and engineering rigor are critical. The engagement also includes joint go-to-market initiatives and extended client support models to provide ‘lifecycle enablement’ for global enterprises.

Ritu Favre, President for Emerson’s Test and Measurement business, said, “Engineering environments are becoming increasingly software defined, data centric and interconnected. Our open, modular NI platform provides the architectural foundation organisations need to manage growing system complexity while accelerating validation and deployment cycles. Through our collaboration with LTTS as a global system integrator, we extend this platform into industry-specific implementations that help customers move from engineering uncertainty to operational confidence and leveraging the proven technology leadership of NI automated test and measurement solutions.”

Alind Saxena, Executive Director & President at LTTS, added, “Our clients in Mobility, Sustainability and Tech require engineering systems that are intelligent and future-ready. Our partnership with Emerson strengthens LTTS’ ability to architect and deploy such systems at scale.”

Mumbai-headquartered SUV major Mahindra & Mahindra has successfully deployed AI-powered conversational voice agents to manage the massive customer outreach for the launch of its premium SUV, the XUV 7XO.

The initiative, led by the group’s dedicated Mahindra AI division, utilised AI-tech from ElevenLabs to handle high-volume customer interactions during the peak launch period.

The XUV 7XO, which premiered on 5 January 2026, represents Mahindra's most technologically advanced internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. To manage the typical surge in inquiries that accompany a major automotive launch, Mahindra AI opted for a scalable digital solution rather than traditional call centre expansion.

The AI voice agents, named nAIna, conducted thousands of concurrent outbound calls, engaging prospective buyers in natural, multi-turn conversations. Powered by ElevenLabs’ Text-to-Speech API, the agents provided human-like, low-latency responses in multiple languages. The campaign is said to have achieved around 8 percent conversion uplift in qualified inquiries, successfully routing high-intent leads directly to dealerships.

Using AI, the system provided ‘always-on’ support, contacting leads and answering queries outside of standard business hours.

Manjari Upadhye, Chief Marketing Officer, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Large-scale launches need new ways to manage customer conversations. During the XUV 7XO launch, our partnership with ElevenLabs helped us successfully deploy AI voice agents to support peak demand and helped route queries to dealerships.”

Karthik Rajaram, GM & Country Head, India, ElevenLabs, added, “Automotive launches compress weeks of customer demand into days. Every call needs to sound as natural and responsive as the first, whether it is the tenth or the ten-thousandth. This partnership with Mahindra showed that AI voice agents can operate at enterprise scale in India - handling thousands of concurrent calls in multiple languages without compromising conversation quality. This sets a new benchmark for how automotive brands can engage buyers at launch.” 

Following the measurable success of the XUV 7XO campaign, Mahindra AI plans to integrate these intelligent voice layers across the entire automotive lifecycle, including service reminders, follow-ups, and long-term customer engagement workflows.

The XUV 7XO is positioned as the premium evolution of the XUV700, priced between INR 1.5 million and INR 2.55 million. It is the first vehicle in India to feature the combined Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos entertainment experience, alongside a ‘Coast-to-Coast’ triple-screen HD display and Level 2 ADAS safety features.

MathWorks, a leading software tools company, recently concluded MATLAB EXPO 2026 today, hosting over 1,300 engineers, scientists and industry leaders to discuss the transition of generative AI, engineering copilots and agentic AI from experimental phases to production-scale deployment.

The event focused on the integration of AI-assisted design and simulation into Model-Based Design workflows across industries such as automotive, aerospace and semiconductors. Discussions highlighted the importance of maintaining engineering rigour, traceability and safety while utilising automated workflows.

At the event, MathWorks leaders Seth Deland and Avinash Nehemiah demonstrated how agentic AI capabilities in MATLAB and Simulink are accelerating simulation-led decision-making and system deployment.

Savyasachi Srinivas, VP at Collins Aerospace, detailed the use of AI-enabled knowledge systems and digital twins to move aerospace products from initial concept through to formal certification.

The event saw a panel discussion featuring representatives from Boeing, Mercedes-Benz R&D India, TCS, HSBC and the Indian Institute of Science addressing the critical need for human oversight and verification when validating AI-assisted outputs in real-world systems.

Also, the event saw technology demonstration including Raftar Formula Racing from IIT Madras, displayed their competition-winning race car designed using MathWorks tools.

The highlight at the UAV Pavilion saw drone and eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) platforms from Speedgoat, Zmotion Autonomous Systems and Reude Technologies.

Sunil Motwani, Country Manager – Sales and Service – MathWorks India, said, “This year’s MATLAB EXPO reflected growing industry interest in applying GenAI, copilots and agentic AI to engineering workflows in ways that improve productivity while preserving validation, traceability and safety.”

The conference underscored a consistent industry shift: engineering teams are moving beyond basic AI experimentation toward certification-ready systems where AI agents accelerate design and verification while keeping engineers central to the decision-making process.