Suprajit Closes Kongsberg Automotive’s LCD unit Acquisition

Maruti Suzuki India Launches New Campaign For Fronx Turbo

Suprajit has announced that it concluded the acquisition of the Light Duty Cable (LDC) business unit from Kongsberg Automotive ASA. 

The company said in a release that all the four LDC related entities are now 100 per cent owned subsidiaries of Suprajit through Suprajit USA, Inc.  

Ajith Rai, Founder and Chairman of Suprajit, said, “We heartily welcome all the employees of LDC to Suprajit Family on the conclusion of acquisition of LDC. It is heartening that Suprajit will emerge not only as a global leader in mechanical control cable systems but will aspire to become most preferred supplier in the world. Our combined manufacturing footprint in India, China, Hungary, USA and Mexico, with engineering centres in Novi (USA), Wichita (USA), Tamworth (UK) and Bangalore (India), along with the engineering support in multiple countries, will give Suprajit group a deep-rooted presence in this business. With 400 million annual cable capacity, Suprajit will have the capability to emerge as a `one stop shop for cables’ in the world. We are excited about the opportunities, this acquisition will bring to Suprajit.”  

The company said the total employee strength of LDC is around 1300. The sales for the calendar year 2021 was USD 85 million with operating EBITDA margin of about 8 per cent. The Enterprise Value of the transaction is USD 42 million. Suprajit said that it expects the business to exceed USD 100 million in the next couple of years with double digit EBITDA. 

Suprajit said it used a portion of cash available with the company and balance through debt to complete this transaction, leaving behind a significant cash surplus with the company. 

Mohan N S, Managing Director and Group CEO, said, “Our strategy of Cables beyond India and in India beyond cables has been pursued with a clear focus. With this acquisition, we have demonstrated our ability to scale up to world-class levels. We have also expanded our management bandwidth to manage plants in various geographies to serve our customers across the globe and truly become a global player”. 

Akhilesh Rai, Director and Chief Strategy Officer, said, “LDC will form the fulcrum of a global Suprajit. Our strong push into systems through Suprajit Tech Center, along with our access to global customers and global platforms, will be a transformative acquisition for Suprajit as we move to support our customers in a holistic manner, from cables today to actuation technologies tomorrow.”  

LDC has marquee global customers in the automotive, non-automotive and two-wheeler businesses including Tesla, Fiat, Land Rover, Mercedes, Honda, STIHL, Shiroki, Adient, Husqvarna, Lear and Magna. Suprajit said it will also emerge as a global leader in the control cable business with a strong global footprint to serve any customer in all of these segments. LDC has a complimentary manufacturing footprint, customer base, product and technology.
Suprajit will also acquire the actuation technology through this transaction, making Electro-Magnetic Actuators (EMA), a new product segment for the group. 

Jim Ryan, President, Suprajit USA, said “I am happy to welcome the team at LDC into the Suprajit family and I look forward to the work ahead of us to ensure that the combined value of the companies, for all stakeholders, is greater than just the sum of the two individual parts.” (MT)

Bolt Selects NVIDIA To Power European Autonomous Ride-Hailing Fleet

Bolt - NVIDIA - Lucid

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.”

Valeo Collaborates With NVIDIA To Develop Autonomous Driving Compute Platforms

Valeo - NVIDIA

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."

HCLTech Launches NVIDIA-Powered Verification And Validation Platform For Software Defined Vehicles

HCLTech Launches NVIDIA-Powered Verification And Validation Platform For Software Defined Vehicles

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.”

HARMAN Wins Driver Safety Solution Award For Ready Aware Platform

Harman Ready Aware

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.”