Dassault Systemes has announced that Bernard Charles has stepped down as Executive Chairman and member of the Board of Directors for personal reasons, effective immediately.

The Board has unanimously appointed Pascal Daloz, the company’s current Chief Executive Officer, to the dual role of Chairman and CEO. The transition, effective from 21 February 2026, follows the recommendation of the Compensation and Nomination Committee.

Charles, a Co-Founder who has been with the company for 40 years, led Dassault Systemes through six generations of industry transformation. While stepping down from his formal duties, Charles will remain available to the company to assist in the adoption of ‘3D UNIV+RSES’ powered by artificial intelligence.

Daloz, who has worked with Charles for 25 years, will now lead the company's ‘Gen7’ strategy. This phase focuses on industrial AI and generative economy solutions within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Key Strategic Focus Areas:

Industrial AI: Integration of artificial intelligence into 3D design and simulation.

Generative Economy: Redefining industry innovation and competition.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Maintaining market leadership in digital twin and PLM technologies.

Pascal Daloz, said, “I am honored to succeed Bernard Charles as Chairman of Dassault Systemes, in addition to my mission as CEO. I would like to thank Bernard for his trust, his unwavering support and his inspiration. We share the same vision: pushing the boundaries of science and imagination to change the lives of consumers, patients and citizens - bringing "virtual worlds to real life". We also share a common conviction about the plan required to turn that vision into reality. As Co-Founder and CEO, Bernard guided our company from a startup to a world leader. The inspiration behind Dassault Systemes' leading technologies, he has instilled a culture of ongoing innovation within our organization. He has helped transform industries for a more sustainable world. I thank Bernard for his offer to remain available to help us accelerate the adoption of 3D UNIV+RSES powered by AI. Our ambition is clear: to lead the transformation powered by Industrial AI through 3D UNIV+RSES. This is a long-term commitment to further redefine how industries innovate, operate and compete in the Generative Economy. I am committed to ensuring that Dassault Systemes retains the freedom needed to remain a game-changer and to accelerating growth.”

Bernard Charles, commented, “I have requested to be released, for personal reasons, from my duties as Executive Chairman of the Board of Dassault Systemes. As Co-Founder of our company, alongside Charles Edelstenne, I am truly pleased that Pascal Daloz succeeds me in this role. Pascal and I have worked side by side for 25 years, and he has my full confidence to both lead the company and organize the Board's work. This decision reflects the enduring continuity of the company’s governance, which is a major source of trust for our large clients around the world. I am firmly convinced that this new configuration creates the strongest conditions for the continued and successful development of Dassault Systemes. I love and am deeply proud of Dassault Systemes - its people, its teams, its customers, its purpose and values and what we build together. I am, at heart, a product and technology leader; this is my passion. I will remain fully available to the company to accelerate the adoption of 3D UNIV+RSES. Over the past 40 years, I have driven six generations of industry transformations, leading cutting-edge product innovation. “Gen7” is now well defined and architected. Pascal and his remarkable team will drive further this tremendous heritage for the success of our clients, partners and shareholders.”

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European ride-hailing platform Bolt has selected the NVIDIA Alpamayo Stack autonomous driving software to operate its vehicle fleet in Europe, starting with Lucid automobiles.

The deployment commences in Madrid in 2027, with subsequent deployment planned in Germany and France. The initiative supports the integration of at least 25,000 Level 4-ready Lucid vehicles equipped with NVIDIA Hyperion compute and sensor architecture. The program contributes to Bolt's objective of deploying 100,000 autonomous vehicles across Europe and the UNECE region by 2035. The system integrates reasoning artificial intelligence with perception and planning modules alongside NVIDIA Halos safety controls.

Jevgeni Kabanov, President and Head of Autonomous Driving, Bolt, said, “Autonomous driving will change how people move around cities, and Europe should play a major role in how that future is built. Our ambition isn't to bring autonomous driving to just a handful of cities. We want to make autonomous ride-hailing available at scale across Europe, with 100,000 vehicles on our platform by 2035. We're bringing together some of the best technologies in the world to make that possible. Following our first autonomous mobility launch in Luxembourg, our next step with NVIDIA and Lucid is to begin a programme in Madrid in 2027. The Region of Madrid is pioneering a structured framework for commercial autonomous mobility in coordination with national authorities. Germany will also be a priority for what comes next, with cities already setting out clear ambitions for autonomous mobility.”

Rishi Dhall, Vice-President of Automotive, NVIDIA, said, “Robotaxis will scale when every vehicle is built on a common, safety-engineered foundation. NVIDIA Hyperion standardises the compute and sensor architecture across vehicle platforms, while NVIDIA Alpamayo Stack and Halos provide the driving intelligence and safety foundation. Bolt’s European platform, operational experience and work with cities and regulators make it a strong partner to bring autonomous ride-hailing to market at scale in Europe.”

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French tier 1 supplier Valeo has announced plans to develop and industrialise high-performance compute platforms utilising the NVIDIA Hyperion reference architecture and NVIDIA Halos safety system.

The initiative combines Valeo's vehicle integration capabilities with centralised computing architectures to support software-defined mobility systems. The platform utilises the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor architecture to deliver processing performance and redundancy for Level 4 autonomous driving, commercial trucking and robotaxi applications. The development framework enables automakers to integrate features and deploy autonomous technologies across vehicle models.

Marc Vrecko, Chief Executive Officer, Valeo Brain Division, said, "Our work with NVIDIA marks a significant milestone in our mission to make autonomous driving a safe, scalable reality. By seamlessly integrating NVIDIA’s advanced compute power into our next-generation platforms, we are delivering the flexible, centralised intelligence vehicle manufacturers require to redefine the driving experience and meet the evolving demands of tomorrow’s intelligent vehicles."

Rishi Dhall, Vice-President of Automotive, NVIDIA, said, "Valeo’s expertise in high-performance computing, vehicle integration and automotive-scale industrialisation will help automakers adopt NVIDIA Hyperion and NVIDIA Halos at production scale. Together, NVIDIA and Valeo are providing the AI performance, functional safety and scalability needed to accelerate the development of Level 4 autonomous vehicles and robotaxis."

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HCLTech has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) verification and validation platform utilising NVIDIA simulation tools, agentic systems and open models.

The offering targets vehicle manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers to automate software validation workflows and accelerate release cycles. Built on a simulation-first operating model, the platform connects requirements, test creation, execution, analysis and compliance reporting.

The system integrates HCLTech's engineering expertise and validation model with NVIDIA Omniverse, Cosmos, Alpamayo, NuRec and Isaac Sim technologies to generate scenarios in virtual environments, reducing reliance on physical testing.

Additionally, the platform utilises the NVIDIA Agent Toolkit to orchestrate AI agents powered by Nemotron open models across the validation lifecycle.

Pankaj Tagra, Chief Growth Officer and Global Head of Mobility, HCLTech, said, “Automotive software is evolving faster than traditional validation processes were designed to handle. Frequent software updates, increasingly complex vehicle systems and the need to demonstrate compliance across changing configurations can make validation slow, fragmented and difficult to scale. Powered by NVIDIA, HCLTech’s V&V for Auto is designed to help organisations shift from periodic, labor-intensive testing to continuous, intelligent validation, using simulation and AI to make software release decisions with greater speed and confidence.”

Dr. Sebastian Scheurle, EMEA Industry Lead of Automotive Enterprise, NVIDIA, said, “Validation now sets the pace for software-defined vehicles. With NVIDIA Omniverse, Cosmos and Nemotron at its core, this solution leverages world-class simulation and AI capabilities to support automakers in their journey towards moving more testing into simulation, covering rare and safety-critical scenarios earlier and releasing software with greater confidence.”

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HARMAN has received recognition from the AutoTech Breakthrough Awards, marking the fourth consecutive year the company has been honoured by the market intelligence organisation. The Ready Aware platform received the Driver Safety Solution designation for 2026.

Ready Aware operates as a software-defined vehicle-to-network solution that integrates infrastructure feeds, vehicle telemetry, cloud analytics and digital twin data to provide contextual in-vehicle warnings.

The system processes information regarding road conditions, weather, traffic hazards and signal timing to deliver alerts beyond the driver's line of sight. The architecture works with existing 4G and 5G cellular hardware and vehicle cloud environments, enabling automakers to deploy software updates without hardware modifications. The platform supports Euro NCAP compliance requirements and offers over 15 safety use cases, including intersection warnings, red-light notifications and hazard alerts.

Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AutoTech Breakthrough, said, “HARMAN Ready Aware is redefining vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. Almost a quarter of U.S. traffic deaths and roughly half of injuries are related to intersections. Cameras and sensors can be limited by physical occlusions and, on their own, may not have access to information about upcoming signal changes or other traffic conditions. Ready Aware’s software-defined model connects the intelligence already present in cities and connected vehicles, then delivers it to the driver as a timely, contextual alert. Ready Aware turns infrastructure data, vehicle telemetry and cloud analytics into actionable driver awareness—available today, scalable tomorrow, and quickly deployable.”

The system uses a cloud analytics and scoring layer named the Confidence Engine to filter data feeds, reduce false alerts and prioritise notifications to minimise distraction. Automakers can integrate the software via client-to-cloud or cloud-to-cloud configurations to support subscription services and feature monetisation.

Suman Sehra, Global Head of Connectivity Product and Portfolio Management, HARMAN, said, “Ready Aware gives automakers a flexible way to move connected vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. By transforming real-time road intelligence into timely, contextual alerts, Ready Aware helps drivers anticipate hazards before they come into view while giving automakers a scalable foundation to continuously enhance safety through software. This recognition reflects HARMAN’s vision for safer, more informed mobility.”

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