Volkswagen Group Components revealed the first glimpse of the prototypes of its mobile charging robot. This is one of the visionary charging concepts that the company hopes will expand the charging infrastructure over the next few years. The objective is to offer a fully autonomous charging of vehicles in restricted parking areas, like underground car parks. “A ubiquitous charging infrastructure is and remains a key factor in the success of electric mobility. Our charging robot is just one of several approaches, but is undoubtedly one of the most visionary,” explains Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Components’ CEO.

Autonomous Charging

The charging robot – started via an app or Car-to-X communication – operates totally autonomously. It independently steers the vehicle to be charged and communicates with it: from opening the charging socket flap to connecting the plug and decoupling it. The entire charging process takes place without any human involvement whatsoever. To charge several vehicles at the same time, the mobile robot moves a trailer, essentially a mobile energy storage unit, to the vehicle, connects it up and then uses this energy storage unit to charge the battery of the electric vehicle. The energy storage unit stays with the vehicle during the charging process. In the meantime, the robot charges other electric vehicles. Once the charging service has ended, the robot independently collects the mobile energy storage unit and takes it back to the central charging station.

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The business unit is currently working on a complete DC charging family. The flexible quick-charging station will be launched onto the market in early 2021. For several weeks now, the DC wallbox has been trialed at different company’s German production sites. The mobile charging robot has successfully reached prototype status and will now be comprehensively further developed. One of the prerequisites for market maturity is Car-to-X communication to facilitate the autonomous charging process. (MT)

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Bengaluru-based design and technology services major Tata Elxsi and Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor Corporation have inaugurated the Suzuki–Tata Elxsi Cloud HIL Centre in Trivandrum, India.

The new centre is Suzuki’s first full-vehicle cloud-enabled Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) validation facility and represents the second engineering centre established under the Tata Elxsi–Suzuki partnership, following the Offshore Development Centre (ODC) in Pune.

The new facility is engineered for early-stage, full-vehicle simulation and validation through a cloud-native infrastructure. It will allow the Japanese automaker’s development and test teams to remotely access HIL infrastructure integrated with Electronic Control Units (ECUs) – reducing reliance on physical prototypes and accelerating validation cycles across R&D centres worldwide. This aligns with Suzuki’s roadmap for Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), reinforcing a shift toward software-led, scalable development.

Being purpose-built, the facility integrates Tata Elxsi’s domain expertise in automotive Verification and Validation (V&V), test automation and simulation, which it claims enables transformative advancements in development speed, quality and future readiness.

The Cloud HIL Centre is part of Suzuki’s global ‘SDV Right’ strategy for Electrical and Electronic (E/E) Virtual Development, which is set to play a foundational role in delivering continuous integration, faster release cycles and system reliability.

Katsuhiro Kato, Director and Executive Vice-President, Suzuki Motor Corporation, said, “The Suzuki-Tata Elxsi Cloud HIL Centre is a new base that leverages Tata Elxsi's expertise and deep experience to build an advanced and efficient development system. We hope that Suzuki will promote virtualisation to realise minimisation of energy and contribute to the development of next-generation mobility significantly."

Manoj Raghavan, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Elxsi, said, “We thank Kato-san and Suzuki Motor Corporation for their continued trust. This new Cloud HIL Centre builds on the strong foundation of our Pune ODC and marks a forward leap in our SDV-focused collaboration. It reflects our shared vision for sustainable and smarter mobility.”

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L&T Technology Services (LTTS) has launched PLxAI, a new proprietary generative AI (GenAI) framework designed to accelerate and optimise the product development life cycle for its global clients. The framework, developed by the company's in-house experts, aims to streamline the process from initial concept to post-launch support.

PLxAI leverages both generative and conventional AI to offer a comprehensive solution for developing scalable and reusable solutions across the entire product development process. It is built with a versatile architecture that makes it adaptable for both embedded systems and software development.

A key feature of PLxAI is its ability to capture and utilise existing knowledge, including an organisation's internal or 'tribal' knowledge. This helps it provide context-aware insights that enhance product engineering. The framework also integrates smart prompting and contextual intelligence to improve every stage of the process, from initial design to final validation and aftermarket support.

LTTS has already deployed over 36 use cases of PLxAI, with an additional 35 in the design phase. These applications span various stages of product development, including:

• Concept Design: Assisting with competitive analysis and technology scouting.
• Component Design: Generating specifications, diagrams and calculations.
• Validation Planning: Automatically creating Design Validation Plans and DFMEA templates.
• Failure Mode Analysis: Generating customisable FMEA documents using organisational templates.
• Digital Twin Integration: Supporting both physical and virtual testing workflows.
• Agentic Workflows: Using proactive agents to automate multi-step engineering tasks.

Alind Saxena, President & Executive Director - Mobility & Tech, L&T Technology Services, said,“This is a proud milestone for Team LTTS. The development of PLxAI by our in-house AI experts is a testimony to LTTS’ engineering and technology capabilities. It reaffirms our deep commitment toward driving global client success across Mobility, Sustainability and Tech leveraging the power of AI and Gen-AI based offerings. The enthusiasm from our global clients has been remarkable, with deployments already underway across multiple domains.”

By accelerating innovation and optimising costs, LTTS believes that PLxAI will redefine how businesses approach product development, unlocking new avenues for growth and efficiency.

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Mahindra & Mahindra, one of the leading SUV manufacturers in the country, has announced that extended its partnership with Dolby Laboratories to equip Dolby Atmos audio, to its new XUV 3XO SUV.

This move will make XUV 3X0 REVX A variant, the most affordable SUV globally at INR 1.2 million, to feature the immersive audio technology.

For the unversed, Dolby Atmos was originally developed for cinemas, which features a multidimensional sound experience that places listeners directly within the audio, revealing details with unparalleled clarity and depth.

The Dolby Atmos system is now available in the REVX A, AX5L, AX7 and AX7L variants of the XUV 3XO. Each of these models will come equipped with a six-speaker audio layout that has been meticulously tuned to the vehicle’s unique cabin architecture. The top-tier AX7L variant will further enhance the experience with an additional subwoofer for deeper bass and a truly cinematic soundscape.

R Velusamy, President of Automotive Business (Designate), Mahindra & Mahindra, stated that the introduction of Dolby Atmos in the XUV 3XO, particularly at a sub-INR 1,2 million price point, ‘redefines in-cabin audio with immersive sound for a larger group of general consumers.’

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Helm.ai, an autonomous driving AI software company, has signed a multi-year joint development agreement with Japanese auto major Honda Motor Co., to accelerate development of Honda’s next-generation self-driving capabilities, including its Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) platform.

The partnership will leverage Helm.ai’s full stack real-time AI software and large-scale autlabeling & generative simulation foundation models for development and validation. Honda will utilise it on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for production consumer cars.

Helm.ai on its part will provide its full suite of products geared toward highway and urban autonomy, including its perception stack (Helm.ai Vision), vision-based real-time path prediction AI (Helm.ai Driver) and generative simulation models (VidGen-2, GenSim-1, GenSim-2 and WorldGen-1). The solution is powered by Helm.ai’s Deep Teaching technology, enabling real-time AI systems and offline foundation models pre-trained on large-scale, diverse, multi-modal datasets. This the company shared, can be further adapted to meet Honda’s specifications for safe, reliable and scalable deployment.

Honda’s NOA system utilises an end-to-end (E2E) AI architecture that controls everything from environmental perception to decision-making and vehicle actuation. It is designed as a partially automated system, which currently requires constant driver attention, supporting both highway and complex urban driving.

The Japanese automaker aims to scale this E2E technology across a broader vehicle lineup and is developing a system that highly assists in operating the accelerator and steering throughout the entire route to the destination, without distinction between regular roads and highways, with mass production targeted after 2027.

Mahito Shikama, Vice-President of Software Defined Vehicle Business Supervisory Unit at Honda Motor Co, said, “This joint development supports Honda’s goal of realising safe and affordable automated driving technologies for our global customers. Through our collaboration with Helm.ai, we are advancing the development of AI technologies that enhance the real-world applicability of autonomous driving systems, bringing us closer to a future with zero traffic collision fatalities.”

Vladislav Voroninski, CEO and Founder, Helm.ai, said, “We look forward to entering the next phase of production development with Honda, as they expand their in-house efforts to deploy cutting edge autonomous driving technologies in mass market vehicles. This joint development highlights our shared vision of enabling AI-powered mobility at scale.”

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