The reasons may be entirely political or geopolitical in nature, the road ahead for Chinese automakers in India looks difficult. 

Chinese automaker BYD and its Indian partner Olectra Greentech (formerly known as Goldstone Infratech) is in news for its proposal to set up a manufacturing plant for electric cars in India. Certain ministry officials involved in vetting the proposal have raised security concerns, claimed an industry source.  

The truth is hard to ascertain. It is also tough to ascertain the news in various media platforms regarding BYD conveying to Olectra that it would like to drop the proposal to invest in India. The proposal to invest is claimed to be worth USD 1 billion. 

Since the clash between the Indian armed forces and Chinese armed forces at Galwan valley in 2020, the Indian Government has tightened scrutiny of Chinese investments in the country.  The ones to get affected by this move have not just been the Chinese automakers but also producers of cell phones and other goods. 

Key players in the Chinese EV market (also the world’s largest) such as BYD, SAIC and Geely have exerted their interest in exploring the Indian automobile market. While MG Motor India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SAIC Motor, the Indian partners of BYD and Geely – Olectra Greentech and Adishwar Auto Ride respectively – are not legacy automotive players to be precise. 

Against the emerging thought process that India produces among the world’s best automobiles, such joint ventures arrangements are likely to be met with greater scrutiny, the China sentiment included. With much work going on in India on the alternative fuel technologies front, including electric, it is clear that any foreign technology or effort will only be accepted after being truly ‘Indian-ised’ or localised.   

The low entry barrier supporting the entry of start ups such as Ather Energy and Ola Electric in the EV space in India, legacy players such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have not stayed behind in their efforts to make exciting EVs that can address the real-time needs of Indian buyers as well as those in other markets.   

What needs careful consideration is that they are competing with global players such as Honda and Toyota, which makes the Indian automotive market a tough place to be in.   

While players like MG have an Indian management even though it is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC Motor (China), the fact is, the going has gotten tough for it too. The situation as a whole for Chinese companies or those that have Chinese partners seems to have turned difficult.  

At one end there's rising competition coupled with China sentiment and at the other, there's the need to invest and grow. 

With India said to be on the path to become the world’s biggest micro electromobility market, a significant shift at various levels is apparent.   

As the biggest employer in the country and the biggest tax player too, the Indian auto sector, the government is keen, turns into a leading manufacturing hub of the world. 

Courting EV players such as Tesla, the government seems clear about how it wants the foreign companies to behave when they come to do business in India. It has made itself clear that it is okay with Chinese players coming to India but they should conduct their operations lawfully and in compliance with laws of the country, mention sources. This points at the government being keen on Indian partners having a larger control of the joint venture, they add. 

The answer to this thinking may be found in how China treats foreign players organisations wanting to do business there. It makes it necessary for the organisations to have a Chinese partner. Besides that, the foreign organisations are known to face face a number of regulatory and cultural challenges. 

The authorities in China are said to favour its own over foreign players. This is despite the commitment by them to invest huge sums and ensure complete transparency in their dealings.   

India as a democratic country has its own regulatory and cultural challenges. As the world’s largest two-wheeler market, fourth largest light vehicle market and fifth largest commercial vehicle market, India is likely to come across as a more balanced market with the participation of leading American, European and Japanese brands. 

Some may have left because of reasons that are complex and also because of a marketplace that is tough to understand as well as crack. The homegrown automakers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors have been giving tough condition to the foreign players in India by smartly moving up the ladder. They are also expanding their reach to some of the most competitive markets across the globe. 

They have been acquiring companies but aren't exactly acquisition hungry. It is not by fluke that Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover and the Korean Daewoo commercial vehicle business, has come to command 86 percent of the EV market in India. The automaker has been investing in technology and transparently engaging with its suppliers and other stakeholders to build a market reach.   

Mahindra & Mahindra has been making big investments in setting up as well as upgrading its R&D facilities in India. It is making big investments in upgrading its design and development facilities in the country; in testing and validation facilities as well. A sneak peek in the MRV will reveal the extend of efforts being taken. 

Underling the Indian Government’s seriousness to turn the Indian auto industry into a leading global manufacturing hub is the stress on local technology development, local content and local manufacture. The efforts to make chips is indicative of the same.  

While the BYD, Olectra or BYD-Olectra badged electric buses operated by city and state transport undertakings (state government organisations largely) may be a common sight on Indian roads, it is also evident that the foot print of electric buses made by homegrown manufacturers such as Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors is also fast expanding.  

It was roughly two years ago that BYD announced its plans to enter the Indian electric car market, albeit at the premium end with the e6 MPV and latter with the stylish Atto 3 SUV. The company, claim sources, has already invested over USD 200 million in India. Busy expanding its dealership network across the country, it has sold over 2,000 e-cars in India in the last one and a half years, they add. 

But then, BYD is not the first Chinese auto maker whose proposal to invest in India seems to have run into rough weather. A few months back, MG Motor India was into news regarding it’s parent company wanting to dilute its stake in it. The reason being given for this, was the delay in the clearing the proposal to hike investment in Indian by its parent – SAIC Motor.   

Even though it may appear as an iconic British brand or be projected as one, MG or Morris Garages is owned by a Chinese organisation. The products it offers in India are said to be of Chinese origin even though they are assembled at a factory in Halol, Gujarat. 

With the proposal to invest by SAIC Motors being subjected to greater scrutiny, it is not surprising that MG Motor India is said to scout for a strategic investor to raise funds and fuel growth. Facing raid from the tax authority in November 2022, the company has been making efforts to cultivate a strong local supply chain for its products. It is also supporting the start up culture in India by showing interest for cooperation. 

Despite the strong China sentiment, it cannot be refuted that businesses in India continue to source from there. A large amount of raw materials for the pharma industry are said to be sourced from there by the Indian pharma companies. Likewise, Indian auto companies are also known to source a good deal of parts – including batteries and electronic parts/modules – from China. 

It is necessary that the government and people of India demand that whoever would like to business here should thoroughly engage with the local necessities, regulations and culture in spirit and on paper.    

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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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