Tokyo-headquartered deep-tech company TIER IV has announced that it has developed new software stacks for Level 4 autonomous driving powered by data-centric artificial intelligence. The software is available via Autoware, an open-source platform, and is designed to be hardware-agnostic, supporting various system-on-chip (SoC) and sensor configurations.

The software stacks are built on an end-to-end (E2E) architecture and offer two primary configurations to allow adaptability across diverse driving environments:

• Hybrid System: Utilises perception and planning AI. It employs diffusion models to capture temporal changes in surroundings and generates trajectories by combining machine learning models with environment perception.
• E2E System: Integrates perception, planning, and control into a single learning process. It uses world models to treat surroundings and driving status as vector representations, creating a pipeline from recognition to vehicle operation.

Automakers can use TIER IV’s machine learning operations (MLOps) platform to iterate AI models. The platform manages data-quality validation, anonymisation and tagging, while generating synthetic and real-world datasets for system evaluation.

TIER IV has commenced 60-minute test runs in three global hubs to validate the technology under distinct traffic conditions:

• Tokyo: Collaborating with the University of Tokyo using a Toyota JPN TAXI to evaluate urban hub-to-hub travel.
• Pittsburgh: Partnering with Carnegie Mellon University using a Hyundai IONIQ 5 for robotaxi tests between Pittsburgh International Airport and the university.
• Munich: Working with the Technical University of Munich using a Volkswagen T7 Multivan for safety evaluations in European urban scenarios.

While safety drivers remain on board to comply with local regulations, no manual intervention is expected during normal operation.

Shinpei Kato, Founder and CEO, TIER IV, said, “To achieve Level 4+ autonomy, we need technology that evolves autonomously alongside the environments it serves. Our new data-centric AI models and collaborative MLOps platform provide a common language and a shared foundation for the entire industry. By working with research institutions, industry leaders and the development community to advance autonomous driving technology through Autoware, we are creating an open, transparent environment that fosters continuous, collective innovation for the benefit of society.”

Yang Zhang, Chairman, Autoware Foundation’s Board of Directors, said, “Autoware serves as the global foundation where researchers, corporations and developers collaborate to advance autonomous driving software. Our collaboration with TIER IV strengthens the international framework for validating and refining E2E autonomous driving through real-world deployment. By testing across three continents, we are driving standards-based innovation and expanding an open ecosystem that lowers the barrier for a diverse range of partners to join and contribute.”

Yutaka Matsuo, Professor at the University of Tokyo, added, “The release of these software stacks and MLOps platform is a vital step toward deploying advanced AI models in industrial applications. By accumulating data from Japan’s distinctive traffic environments through our Tokyo testing and contributing those insights back to Autoware, we aim to further bridge the gap between academic research and real-world deployment.”

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Coretura, a 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, has entered into an engineering agreement with Accenture to accelerate the development of a software platform for commercial vehicles.

The company, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, currently employs over 100 engineers. It continues to recruit specialists in system architecture, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure to support its roadmap, which targets the delivery of its first commercialised products towards the end of the decade.

Coretura intends to create a single software platform, language and standard for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty transport vehicles. The platform is designed to support vehicle lifecycles of more than 15 years, moving the industry away from projects that require custom software development for each new vehicle.

As the engineering partner, Accenture will support development across several areas, including:

• Electrical and Electronic (E/E) architecture
• Software abstraction and hardware integration
• Embedded software, middleware, and cybersecurity
• Functional safety and cloud infrastructure

The platform aims to provide a reusable software stack to lower costs and standardise time-to-market for global manufacturers. For fleet operators, the system is designed to allow for continuous software updates and performance upgrades delivered over the air.

Johan Lunden, CEO, Coretura, said, “Our purpose is to advance mobility at the speed of ideas, and that takes depth. Building a full-stack SDV platform demands expertise across embedded software, middleware, cybersecurity, and functional safety, all designed for vehicles with lifecycles measured in decades. Accenture’s reinvention capabilities let us move faster without compromising the standards our customers depend on. This is acceleration, not course correction.”

Rainer Oder, SDV Embedded Software Lead, Accenture, added, “Helping the industry advance software-defined vehicles is a priority for Accenture. Our landmark collaboration with Coretura is designed to change embedded software engineering for automotive platforms. Together, we are looking to solve the challenges of a fully software-defined architecture – addressing critical areas such as hardware abstraction, API management and AI-based engineering optimisations.”

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The ePlane Company has announced the completion of its full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X. Designated PT-01, the prototype has successfully integrated all core subsystems into a single structure, marking the transition from design and simulation to physical testing.

The e200X is designed as a single airframe versatile enough to serve three distinct markets – Passenger Air Taxi, Urban Cargo Carrier and Air Ambulance.

The company emphasises that the aircraft was designed to be compact, allowing it to integrate into existing urban infrastructure without requiring significant city redesigns.

Developed at the company's own facilities in Chennai, the e200X features in-house development of major components, including propellers, airframe structure, landing gear and battery pack.

This vertical integration provides the company with control over performance, manufacturing costs, and iteration speed, having reached this milestone on approximately USD 21 million in funding.

With assembly complete, the e200X will now undergo ground testing, flight testing and certification.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company, said, "We set out to build an electric aircraft to a world-class benchmark, engineered and manufactured in depth in India for the World.  We deliberately designed the e200X to be compact, because an aircraft that asks a city to rebuild itself around it will not solve the problem it was built to solve. The same airframe can move people as an air taxi, carry goods as a cargo aircraft, and save lives as an air ambulance, and it can do all three using the infrastructure cities already have. That combination of real capability and capital efficiency is how we intend to compete, and win, in markets around the world.”

The company’s board includes prominent figures such as Vishesh Rajaram (Speciale Invest), Eash Sundaram (JetBlue) and Aditya Ghosh (Homage, Akasa Air). The venture, incubated at IIT Madras, has also received international recognition, including being showcased at Bharat Innovates 2026 and featured in Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has marked a new milestone for its automotive product offering with its electric vehicle.

The company has announced a significant milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by completing the first official autonomous lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany with the Xiaomi YU7 GT, equipped with a Track Package, navigating the 20.8 km circuit without a human driver, recording a lap time of 10:29.483.

Following this performance, the Nurburgring has introduced a new official vehicle category: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles).

The Xiaomi YU7 GT autonomously navigated all 73 corners of the Nordschleife, managing 300 metres of elevation change and varying road surface conditions. The performance was driven by Xiaomi’s autonomous driving system, which integrates the Xiaomi XLA architecture and the MiMo-Embodied foundation model introduced in March 2026. The end-to-end architecture enabled the vehicle to coordinate steering, braking and power delivery in real-time, maintaining stability under high-speed and high-load conditions.

Xiaomi’s autonomous driving programme has evolved since the 2024 launch of Xiaomi HAD. The current system moves beyond simple behaviour imitation toward autonomous decision-making and deeper environmental interpretation. The company stated that the Nurburgring project serves as a critical testing ground to collect data for refining vehicle dynamics modelling, control strategy optimisation and safety redundancy mechanisms.

This achievement underscores Xiaomi’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence in the automotive sector through rigorous real-world validation.

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QuantumScape Corporation has announced a multi-year joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.

The collaboration focuses on advancing QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery platform, including the development of associated manufacturing processes.

This agreement follows a successful technology evaluation period during which Honda conducted a technical study and competitive benchmarking of QuantumScape’s battery platform.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence, Honda R&D Co, said, “QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership.”

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President, QuantumScape, added, “Honda is a leading global automaker renowned for its engineering excellence and product quality across automotive and other applications worldwide, and its evaluation represents one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date. This agreement reflects the growing confidence in QS solid-state lithium-metal batteries to enable safer, higher-density energy storage.”

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