Toyota has accelerated its ‘Green Wave Project’ commemorating this year’s environment month. It is aimed at enhancing its nature conservation activity in the community with the company distributing saplings to its employees, under its sixth challenge that is termed as ‘Establishing a Future Society in Harmony with Nature’ and looks to contribute to the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050. 

While the eco campaign continues to drive active community involvement to promote greenery, through employee engagement, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has successfully distributed over 7000 saplings to its employees, marking significant progress towards its 8,000-sapling target set under its plantation activity. 

With TKM employees encouraged to plant and nurture the distributed saplings within their neighbourhoods and submit periodic reports on plant growth, the it is noteworthy to mention about Toyota’s tree plantation activities that are strongly driven by adopting a unique concept namely the ‘Miyawaki Method of Afforestation’ since 2009, and TKM was the first corporate in India to implement such plantation methodology. TKM’s steadfast commitment to sustainability and ecological restoration is yielding remarkable results, as evidenced by the numerous advantages of the Miyawaki approach. A comprehensive study conducted in collaboration with experts from Bangalore University revealed that the Miyawaki method excels in carbon sequestration, capturing an impressive 30.86 tonnes of carbon per acre.

By doing so, TKM not only restored native habitats but also created self-sustaining ecosystem that contribute to a healthier planet. Under the guidance of Late Dr Akira Miyawaki himself, TKM initiated its maiden Miyawaki plantation drive, way back in 2009, marking a significant milestone in its journey towards conservation of greenery and eco-consciousness. Since that momentous day, TKM's plantation drives have continued to evolve and expanded to 112 acres of green cover within the factory premises, out of which 32 acres of afforestation has been developed using Miyawaki method. Today, Toyota’s manufacturing facility, located in Bidadi (on the outskirts of Bengaluru) proudly boasts more than 328,000 trees of over 790 native species planted within its premises. The results have been truly awe-inspiring with a remarkable increase in biodiversity observed over the years. 

From a mere 181 plant species, the count has surged to an impressive 790, while the number of faunal species has risen from 76 to 284. The vibrant ecosystem now encompasses 88 bird varieties, 38 butterfly species, 107 insects, 17 reptiles, 8 mammals, and 6 amphibians, reflecting the successful development of a thriving native forest ecosystem.

In addition, TKM has created an experiential environmental learning centre ‘Ecozone’ (spread across 25 acres with 17 theme parks and home to 65,000 trees with 650 native species) for children, teachers, community members and other stakeholders, within its manufacturing facility aimed at creating the environment leaders and change champions for the future, to usher in desired behavioural change in the communities. This green zone depicts the creation of dense forest within the plant facility using the ‘Miyawaki Concept’ of plantation. The forests are dominantly planted with species of 4 major forest types such as Dry Deciduous, Moist Deciduous, Semi-evergreen and Evergreen Forest, covering 21 different sub-concepts such as Pollination meadows, herbal garden, plants for spices etc. So far, more than 42,000+ students & other stakeholders have been covered through ecozone initiative.

B Padmanabha, Executive Vice President and Director of Manufacturing - Toyota Kirloskar Motor, averred, “At Toyota Kirloskar Motor, we recognise that environmental and social sustainability are just as crucial as economic progression. Guided by Toyota’s Global Environmental Challenge 2050 (six challenges announced in 2015), our sustainability efforts are far reaching that go beyond product zero emissions. While the first three challenges seek to achieve zero carbon emissions covering the entire life cycle of our products, across manufacturing operations as well as our value chain, the last three challenges focus to achieve water conservation, establishing recycled based society and living in harmony with nature.”

“We believe that a sustainable future is built through collective action and community involvement, as exemplified by one of our eco initiatives - Green Wave Program that covers afforestation (plantation drives, distribution of saplings), sharing best practices (e.g. Miyawaki plantation methodology), creating awareness on nature conservation and imbibing good eco behaviour (Toyota Ecozone – Experiential Eco Learning). Together with our employees and other stakeholders, we aim to catalyse positive change in the community to safeguard the environment to the future,” he added. 

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L&T Technology Services has introduced AgenticIQ, a comprehensive Agentic AI platform tailored for engineering and manufacturing sectors. The end-to-end system is designed to facilitate the shift from isolated AI experiments to full-scale operational deployment. It achieves this by enabling autonomous, multi-agent workflows that span product development, manufacturing and customer experience, thereby promoting widespread Engineering Intelligence adoption.

Despite rising corporate AI investments, many projects remain stalled at the pilot phase due to fragmented engineering systems and manual processes. Highly regulated environments further complicate scalability, as organisations struggle to balance autonomous operations with strict governance and security protocols. AgenticIQ directly addresses these hurdles by embedding a planning-first architecture into existing production workflows.

Built upon LTTS’ existing Engineering Intelligence portfolio, the platform converts proven capabilities into reusable, specialised AI agents that function within enterprise governance frameworks. It ensures the protection of critical data and intellectual property while supporting a new agentic delivery model. With a cloud-agnostic design, the platform serves R&D-heavy industries like automotive, healthcare and semiconductors, allowing clients to deploy solutions anywhere without losing control over proprietary knowledge and workflows.

Amit Chadha, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services, said, “The next phase of Engineering Intelligence will be defined by how effectively autonomous AI agents collaborate to solve complex industry challenges across engineering, production and customer experience. Over the years, LTTS has built AI-powered engineering solutions that address domain-specific business problems across industries. With AgenticIQ™, we are transforming these proven capabilities into reusable AI agents on a unified Agentic AI platform that enables enterprises to rapidly build, orchestrate and deploy next-generation agentic solutions at scale.”

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German automotive major the BMW Group and its consortium partners have concluded the Car2Car research project, demonstrating that high-quality material recovery from end-of-life vehicles is technically feasible for industrial automotive applications.

Under expanded processing and sorting conditions, the consortium increased the percentage of recoverable materials from 6 percent to 51 percent across five focus material groups.

The project evaluated recovery paths for steel, aluminium, copper, plastics and glass. Under optimised processing routes, the recovery rate for steel rose from 1 percent to 81 percent, aluminium increased from 23 percent to 52 percent and copper grew from 48 percent to 68 percent. The improvements were achieved through pre-sorting, modified shredding processes, classification, sensor-based sorting and alloy separation.

Alexander Efthimiou, Senior Vice President Business Development, BMW Group, said, “The circular economy is an integral part of the BMW Group’s corporate strategy. Car2Car shows that its full potential can be realised when the entire value chain is optimised. Together with our partners, we are using the project findings to develop new process and business models that combine environmental and economic benefits, and advance the transition towards a circular automotive industry.”

To address copper contamination that prevents scrap steel from being reused in automotive flat steel, the project introduced a targeted sorting process for which a patent application has been filed. Steel coils produced through this method were tested at BMW Group Plant Leipzig, where over 100,000 series parts were manufactured and installed in vehicles.

Hilke Schaer, Car2Car project manager, BMW Group, said, “With Car2Car, we wanted to understand under which conditions materials from end-of-life vehicles can be reused in new cars. The project has shown the potential in current material streams from end-of-life vehicles that have not yet been optimised for high-quality material loops. The most significant progress was seen with steel: We were able to demonstrate that high-quality flat steel for automotive applications can be produced from end-of-life vehicle scrap. In the field test at BMW Group Plant Leipzig, more than 100,000 series parts were produced using this steel and installed in vehicles – making the project’s results tangible.”

While metal recycling yielded positive results, the consortium noted that technological challenges remain for plastics and glass due to material varieties and complex composite structures. Large-scale implementation across the industry will require process chains, additional infrastructure investments and regulatory frameworks aligned with the European ELV Regulation.

The consortium comprised BMW AG, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Technical University of Munich, Scholz Recycling, STEINERT UniSort, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, Aurubis, Novelis Germany, OETINGER Aluminium and Pilkington Automotive Germany.

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Cars24 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to support India's startup ecosystem through initiatives focused on artificial intelligence, mobility, and road safety.

As per the agreement, Cars24 will establish structured programmes for early-stage founders, granting access to its infrastructure, mentor network, funding sources, market connections and technical resources. In turn, the DPIIT will facilitate national outreach and ecosystem integration via the Startup India platform, supporting knowledge exchange, co-branding and policy engagement.

The partnership encompasses five specific areas of operation: mentorship for early-stage founders via the Cars24 Founders' Fellowship, training through Mobility and Autotech Skilling Programmes, technical support and AI integration via Cars24 Labs, investor connections through Fuel by Cars24 and the organisation of an annual Innovation Challenge and Road Safety Hackathon alongside the DPIIT.

Vikram Chopra, Builder, Cars24, said, “Cars24 is proof that Indian founders can start with a difficult, everyday problem and build something on a national scale. We want to pass that possibility on. Through this partnership with DPIIT, we are backing the next generation of builders with more than advice. We want to give them access, capital, talent and a real platform to test ideas that can make India move smarter and safer.”

A senior DPIIT official commented, “Industry participation is central to strengthening India’s startup ecosystem. Collaborations of this kind, where an established market leader opens up its scale, mentorship and resources to early-stage founders, are exactly the bridge between ambition and execution that young startups need. We welcome Cars24’s commitment to mentoring, skilling and supporting product startups across the country.”

The non-binding MoU establishes a framework for ongoing collaboration between both entities to foster technology adoption and entrepreneurship within the Indian mobility sector.

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NXP Semiconductors has announced that the BMW Group will deploy its Trimension NCJ29D6 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) family across its vehicle fleet, beginning with selected 2026 production programmes.

The hardware component integrates fine-ranging capabilities with short-range radar functionality on a single chip. This allows vehicle manufacturers to utilise a single system for multiple applications, including hands-free vehicle entry and occupant presence detection.

The integration supports BMW’s Digital Key Plus feature, which enables vehicle owners to substitute key fobs with smartphones or smartwatches. The system manages locking and unlocking functions as the user approaches or moves away from the vehicle. Additionally, the technology includes in-cabin radar monitoring designed to identify motion patterns consistent with occupants or animals left inside a parked vehicle, sending notification alerts to users to align with European and Chinese NCAP assessment protocols.

Markus Staeblein, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Secure Car Access at NXP Semiconductors, said, “NXP’s proven Trimension UWB platform maximises value for OEMs, using a single system to deliver multiple new and differentiating features for drivers. Digital key and presence detection are just the beginning. OEMs will be able to deliver additional UWB-based features, such as kick sensing, intrusion alert or automatic charging, as they establish the secure hardware platform in their vehicles.”

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