South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Group has announced partnerships with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to collaborate and advance research for batteries and electrification. The three institutes include IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and IIT Madras.

As part of the understanding, the Hyundai Center of Excellence (CoE) will be set up within IIT Delhi, which will operate through sponsorships from Hyundai Motor Group. It will lead in driving advancements in batteries and electrification, specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Indian market.

Furthermore, Hyundai Motor Group aims to invest around USD 7 million over five years (2025 to 2029) to support the research at the universities. The collaboration will also focus on software and hydrogen fuel cells.

The Korean auto major will also support the establishment of the electric vehicle ecosystem in India. The collaboration will involve the Centre for Automotive Research and Tribology (CART), the only EV-related research institute in India, located within IIT Delhi.

In addition to joint research, exchange of experts from Korea and India, special lectures and technical exchanges are also planned.

Naksup Sung, Head of Hyundai Motor Group Research and Development (R&D) Planning & Coordination Center, said, “We are delighted to join forces with IITs, a group of leading engineering universities renowned for its exceptional education and research. We believe that Hyundai CoE will cultivate a strong network of talented individuals from India's academic landscape, driving innovation and future growth.”

Hyundai Motor Group officials, along with IIT representatives, including Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director at IIT Delhi, Dean Sachin C. Patwardhan at IIT Bombay and Dean Manu Santhanam at IIT Madras, attended a ceremony at IIT Delhi where they signed an agreement for the joint establishment of the ‘Hyundai Motor Group-IIT Hyundai CoE.’

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A study conducted by Google and Kantar titled ‘Automobile Purchase Journey in the Age of AI’ shows that 93 percent of automobile shoppers in India utilise artificial intelligence (AI) interfaces during their research process.

The research indicates that the car buying process involves multiple digital platforms, with 87 percent of buyers interacting with Google services including Search, YouTube, Maps and Gemini. Consumers utilising artificial intelligence touchpoints consult an average of 7.8 resources to research and evaluate choices, compared to 6.9 touchpoints for buyers overall. Within Google Search, 90 percent of surveyed users reported encountering AI Overviews, while 89 per cent utilised AI Mode to process technical specifications, vehicle features and financing options. Furthermore, 80 percent of buyers using AI chatbots also turn to Google Search or YouTube for active research.

The findings highlight that initial consideration sets form early, with 80 percent of buyers maintaining a predefined list of brands prior to active research. Approximately six in 10 buyers use YouTube for casual exploration, where 77 percent of users rely on professional automotive reviewers to inform their choices. Daily media consumption habits among car buyers show that 63 percent watch YouTube, 55 percent stream YouTube on television screens, 54 percent read newspapers and 43 percent watch linear television. Decision-making remains a shared process within households, with 64 percent of respondents involving family members and 53 percent consulting spouses. Vehicle safety ratings and styling were identified as primary motivators by 41 percent of buyers.

Siddharth Shekhar, Director, Google India, said, "The car buying journey in India is deliberate, non-linear, and deeply digital-particularly ahead of the festive season, when consideration peaks. Buyers move between discovery on YouTube and conversational validation on Search. Among surveyed Google Search users, 90 percent come across AI Overviews and 89 percent use AI Mode to navigate nuanced, complex queries. As AI helps buyers navigate complex choices, our ad and commerce solutions help automotive brands respond to their intent-connecting initial curiosity directly to the showroom."

Virat Khullar, Head of Marketing, Hyundai Motor India, said, "The automotive purchase journey is increasingly shaped by moments of discovery, research and intent across digital channels. Our partnership with Google helped us harness the scale of YouTube to build awareness and the intelligence of AI-powered Search ad solutions to identify and convert high-intent consumers. By unifying upper- and lower-funnel marketing, we were able to deliver a more relevant and efficient customer experience, turning consideration into action and driving strong sales momentum for Hyundai Verna."

The study was carried out by Kantar in May 2026 across metropolitan and Tier-1 cities in India, surveying 1,022 consumers who had purchased a car within the preceding six months.

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Accenture and Google Cloud have announced that Volvo Cars has signed on as the lead industry partner for Horizon, an open-source software development platform designed for car makers and automotive suppliers to build, test and deploy software on the Android Automotive Operating System.

The Horizon platform unifies cloud-native development tools, virtual testing environments and artificial intelligence workflows. Volvo Cars is migrating its global software development environment for the Android Automotive Operating System to the platform to accelerate engineering processes and virtual testing across its global development teams.

Insights gathered from Volvo Cars' deployment will be used by Accenture and Google Cloud to refine the platform and expand its generative artificial intelligence features for automotive and industrial manufacturers.

According to metrics provided by Accenture and Google Cloud, testing speeds using virtual Cuttlefish-based Android Automotive environments can improve by up to 9 times, while infotainment feature development costs can decrease by up to 40 percent. Software build times, which previously required up to two hours, can yield feedback within minutes through caching and build pipeline optimisation.

Remote access to virtual and physical device farms allows engineers to test software without requiring local physical test equipment, while virtual workbenches enable developers to set up development environments in seconds.

Gregor Zetsche, Head of Connected Experience, Volvo Cars, said, "We’re building some of the most complex products in the world, which requires a development environment built to match. As Horizon’s lead industry partner, we can directly solve our toughest engineering challenges and empower our teams to deliver new experiences faster than ever."

Juergen Reers, Global Automotive & Mobility Lead, Accenture, said, "Horizon enables a faster, more flexible and efficient way to deliver software-defined vehicle features. Its standardised, repeatable and scalable processes help deliver reliable, high-quality software products, while significantly reducing time to market. Horizon will allow Volvo Cars’ engineers to focus on what matters most: creating differentiated vehicle experiences and continuously delivering new value to drivers through software at high speed."

Henry Bzeih, Global Director for the Automotive Industry, Google Cloud, said, "Software now defines the automotive brand. Horizon on Google Cloud gives Volvo Cars the ability to move faster while releasing high-quality software and features on a cadence that matches the expectations of modern mobility. This is how next generation digital experiences reach drivers at agile speed."

Accenture and Google Cloud are working with additional automotive and industrial organisations to expand adoption of the Horizon platform across international markets.

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Emerson has announced the expansion of its test and measurement research and development (R&D) facility in Bengaluru, which it claims is an additional 50 percent.

The investment increases capacity at the site to develop software-defined and automated validation technologies for industrial customers.

The Bengaluru facility operates as Emerson's NI Software Centre of Excellence and represents the company's second-largest test and measurement R&D centre globally. Engineering teams at the site hold product responsibility for test software platforms, AI-enabled engineering capabilities, systems engineering technologies and radio frequency test software. The tools serve clients across the semiconductor, aerospace, defence, transportation, life sciences and manufacturing sectors.

Ritu Favre, President of Emerson's Test & Measurement business, said, "Bangalore plays an increasingly strategic role in Emerson’s global test innovation network. The site combines deep expertise in test software and AI-enabled engineering and validation technologies with close connections to rapidly evolving industries. This investment helps customers manage growing product complexity, streamline validation and bring new innovations to market faster."

The expansion provides capacity to advance automated validation workflows and integrated test platforms as hardware complexity increases across shortened product development timelines.

Emerson's investment aligns with domestic growth in semiconductors, electric mobility, and aerospace manufacturing driven by initiatives such as the India Semiconductor Mission and the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan.

Alongside the R&D centre, Emerson operates a second Bengaluru location dedicated to application engineering, calibration services, sales and customer support.

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Digital payment infrastructure company ToneTag has launched an in-car fuel payment system at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.

The solution is developed for TATA.CARS under the name DrivePay and integrates National Payments Corporation of India's UPI Circle framework for Internet of Things devices to enable direct fuel payments at IndianOil retail outlets.

The DrivePay platform integrates payment capabilities into connected vehicle infotainment screens. Drivers can simply pay at fuel stations from the vehicle dashboard without using mobile applications, physical cards, or external payment terminals.

The service also incorporates IndianOil’s XTRAREWARDS loyalty scheme, automatically crediting reward points to customer accounts without requiring mobile number inputs during checkout. Following the initial demonstration at GFF 2026, deployment will begin across IndianOil outlets ahead of a wider rollout.

Vivek Kumar Singh, Co-Founder and Director – Labs, ToneTag, said, "Payments are rapidly moving beyond traditional interfaces such as cards and smartphones, and connected devices are emerging as the next frontier for commerce. With DrivePay, powered by ToneTag, we are bringing an IoT-based UPI Circle payment experience directly into the connected vehicle. This initiative with IndianOil, TATA.CARS and NPCI demonstrates how payment infrastructure can seamlessly extend into connected devices, enabling the vehicle itself to become a secure payment interface. We believe this is an important step towards a future where mobility, payments and commerce are seamlessly connected."

The project combines IndianOil's retail distribution network, TATA.CARS' vehicle hardware, ToneTag's payment processing software and NPCI's UPI transaction network. ToneTag plans to extend its connected vehicle payment systems to additional automotive original equipment manufacturers and mobility providers.

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