“Thanks to its universal digital twin, Michelin not only listens to the vehicle; it whispers (words of wisdom) in its ear in real time!” said Philippe Jacquin, Michelin Group executive vice president of research and development and a member of the group executive committee “Every tire, whatever the brand, has its very own embedded intelligence. By making its tires smarter, Michelin is bringing a new dimension to the role of tire manufacturer and is once again proving its commitment to enhancing safety for all road users.”

Safer driving experience

Michelin’s digital twin is a dynamic virtual replica of a tire. It continuously analyzes and predicts the state of tires at a given time, factoring in tire pressure, wear, load, grip and driving conditions and comparing these with in-vehicle data.

It directly interacts with the embedded systems to optimize their performance, helping to enhance safety by predicting maximum grip, preventing aquaplaning, boosting the effectiveness of ADAS systems such as ABS, monitoring tire pressure and detecting any overloading. This means the vehicle can anticipate grip, improve its stability, optimize fuel consumption and adapt braking distances by as much as several meters.

The integrated system provides real-time support based on tire condition, delivering practical benefits during driving. For drivers, this can contribute to a smoother, safer and more predictable driving experience without requiring changes to driving behaviour.

By providing a continuous stream of vehicle-based data, the system can support predictive maintenance and help extend tire life. Maintaining tires in optimal operating condition may reduce material use and lower environmental impact across the tire lifecycle. The approach is also intended to align with the increasing adoption of software-defined and autonomous vehicles, where performance, functionality and user experience can be updated over time.

Universal embedded system

Michelin’s 100% software-enabled embedded intelligence-driven system makes use of existing in-vehicle data without requiring additional tire-mounted sensors. It is compatible with all tire brands and models and can be fitted to all types of vehicles.

According to Michelin, the solution has been developed in collaboration with Brembo, Hyundai, QNX, ETAS and Sonatus, covering the full spectrum of innovation from fundamental research through to industrial integration at scale.

In a recent partnership with Brembo, the latter’s Sensify intelligent braking system was used to demonstrate the use of Michelin’s digital twin technology in ABS performance. By integrating tire condition data into braking algorithms, the system has shown potential to improve braking performance, including shorter braking distances of up to 4m and increased stability during heavy braking.

In related news, Univrses AI technology integrated into Pirelli Cyber Tyre platform

The recall follows independent crash testing carried out by Euro NCAP last year, during which the MG3 experienced a front-seat rail failure in a frontal crash test. This allowed the driver’s seat to become unlatched during the impact.

Following a detailed technical review, MG agreed with Euro NCAP’s findings that the issue could also occur in real life, and addressed the root cause with an improved design that was verified by Euro NCAP and eliminates any risk of the seat unlatching. The manufacturer swiftly implemented the change to production vehicles. MG has subsequently developed a repair for existing cars and worked with authorities in Europe and the UK to initiate a recall and repair campaign for affected MG3 models already sold to customers.

Owners of an MG3 built before August 2025 have been strongly advised not to ignore or delay the repair, and to contact their local MG dealer to check if their vehicle is affected and have the recall work performed.

“This was a significant safety flaw that Euro NCAP uncovered, and we were pleased with MG Motor’s robust response,” said Dr Aled Williams, program director at Euro NCAP. “Owners of the MG3 and MG3 Hybrid+ who haven’t heard about the vehicle recall or are still to take action should contact their local MG dealer, and they will confirm whether their car is one of the affected models and arrange repairs, if necessary, at no cost to the owner.”

In recent news, Audi A2 e-tron racks up the miles during validation testing

Type 01 development has been directly inspired by technology used by the company’s Formula E team – Jaguar TCS Racing – integrating technology proven on track by the World Championship-winning all‑electric team.

The prototype’s responses have been fine‑tuned using lessons learned from Jaguar TCS Racing’s all‑wheel-drive control software and fast‑switching silicon-carbide‑powered inverters.

Regenerative braking, range and fast‑charging capability have also reportedly been enhanced using technology developed on track.

“To achieve our vision for Type 01, we not only harnessed our Formula E know‑how but also embedded the competition mindset of Jaguar TCS Racing in our engineering teams. This helped us develop innovative solutions for our luxury four‑door GT that drives like no other electric car,” said Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover.

The Type name has been associated with Jaguar since the Le Mans-winning C-Type in 1951. It represents a combination of performance and driver engagement alongside refinement, as seen in models such as the E-Type and F-Type. In Jaguar Type 01, the 0 represents electric propulsion and zero tailpipe emissions, while the 1 signifies its position as the first Jaguar of a new era. The vehicle was designed, developed and built in the UK.

Jaguar’s four‑door GT will be revealed later this year.

In related news, BMW unveils Vision BMW Alpina design study

“It was a great start yesterday (May 19) with the launch of our smart prototyping concept with lots of positive feedback from customers and partners,” said Tanneke Reinders, executive VP at HBK. “From this morning’s presentations we really see ‘smart testing’ coming alive. The key is transforming from data creators to data interpreters – that’s the main shift for us. It’s about connecting data in one ecosystem. When we talk about data, especially the amount of data and fragmentation of it, we want to support.”

This year there are multiple tire-focused presentations, highlighting the critical role of the tire and its relationship with the vehicle. It seems tire and vehicle developers are working closer together than ever to refine their use of simulation and tighten the integration between the digital and real worlds. This was exemplified in the opening presentation by Alessandro Capobianco, R&D specialist for tire models and vehicle/DIL simulation at Bridgestone, and Eric Walter, vehicle dynamics CAE engineer at VW (both above), who provided an insight into their vehicle/tire co-development work, which has involved the sharing of a steering wheel model.

Another of ATTI’s highlights from the summit was the Nissan and Horiba Mira presentation (right), in which the two speakers, Leo May, lead simulation engineer, Nissan Motor Corp, and Stratos Stratoudakis, a consultant at Horiba Mira, detailed how they are working together to prioritize virtual development by moving it further forward in the cycle, with the ultimate aim of reducing development time by 25%.

Marc Hedrich, a development engineer at event exhibitor Team Rosberg Engineering, said, “We are presenting our expertise in providing simulation models. The focus for us is to learn new things because software is ever evolving and you don’t want to be left behind. I like this year’s approach of trying to get the best data and not the most. I’ve learned already how others such as Mercedes-AMG are using these tools. It’s cool to connect with companies that are doing similar things and others that are doing things we’ve never heard of.”

This morning concluded with a presentation from the rarely heard-from Tesla (top), which gave insights into the company’s NVH analysis using a simulator.

Francesco Calabrese who is attending as an exhibitor representing Fraunhofer ITWM as well as the institute’s spin-off, Virtual Tire Technologies, said, “It’s a good event to push the word for using more simulation with the goal of spending less money on prototypes. What I like is the excitement in this field as it grows – every year there are significantly more people which is a sign people are understanding the importance of it.”

More to come.

Related news, rFpro develops Japanese test route digital twin for virtual vehicle development

In open-air trials in Andøya, Norway (September 2025), the software demonstrated an ability to suppress spoofed signals and maintain signal integrity, supporting more resilient positioning for safety-critical applications.

The trials were conducted as part of Jammertest, an internationally recognized test campaign hosted by Norwegian authorities to assess GNSS performance under realistic jamming and spoofing conditions.

Focal Point Positioning collected live RF data using a test vehicle equipped with a roof-mounted GNSS antenna and a LabSat 4 recorder, alongside an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and commercial off-the-shelf GNSS receivers. The recorded signals were then replayed into multiple receivers at the company’s Cambridge facility for further analysis.

Laurence Bennett, an algorithm engineer at Focal Point Positioning, explained, “Jammertest was an ideal opportunity to evaluate GNSS performance under realistic compromised conditions and understand how this technology can withstand the effects of spoofing.”

Bennett continued, “We demonstrated how Supercorrelation enables receivers to distinguish between genuine and inauthentic signals, improving resilience without the need for additional, complex hardware.”

Analysis of the results showed a clear performance difference between receivers with and without Supercorrelation processing. During meaconing attacks, where legitimate GNSS signals are rebroadcast to mislead receivers, conventional processing was unable to isolate the authentic line-of-sight satellite signal, which was overwhelmed by stronger, delayed spoofed signals. In these conditions, receivers risk tracking the false signal, potentially compromising positioning integrity.

In contrast, Supercorrelation processing was able to recover and track the authentic signal while significantly reducing the impact of meaconed signals. Supercorrelation uses long, motion-compensated coherent integration to strengthen genuine satellite signals and suppress delayed or inauthentic ones.

As a software-based approach, it can be deployed via firmware upgrade, enabling scalable integration across GNSS-enabled devices.

“As sectors such as automotive, mobile and critical infrastructure become more reliant on GNSS, resilience to this kind of disruption is becoming increasingly important,” added Bennett. “Spoofing and meaconing attacks pose a growing risk to positioning accuracy, particularly in safety-critical applications where compromised signals can have significant operational consequences.”

Focal Point Positioning plans to publish further technical analysis of its Jammertest 2025 results in the coming months, supporting ongoing collaboration with chipset partners.

In related news, Audi A2 e-tron racks up the miles during validation testing

The vehicle will be manufactured in Ingolstadt, Germany. The prototype is undergoing various tests before its debut, clocking up vital test miles on snow and ice, in the wind tunnel at Audi Technical Development in Ingolstadt, and on public roads.

Cold-weather trials

During winter testing in Lapland, the A2 e-tron performed under extreme conditions, including icy temperatures, snow-covered roads and slippery test tracks on a frozen lake. The validation process at a test site in northern Sweden focused not only on driving dynamics but also on thermal management and battery performance. Engineers have developed the A2 e-tron by continuously adjusting the electric drive, brake control system and suspension by the minute.

Aerodynamic optimization

The distinctive roofline is the reason for the A2 e-tron’s excellent aerodynamics, which are constantly being tested and optimized in the wind tunnel at Audi Technical Development. With wind speeds of up to 300km/h, ultra-precise aeroacoustics measurement and a 235km/h rolling road, the wind tunnel provides ideal conditions for optimizing the airflow characteristics, noise development and thermal stability of the vehicle.

Road testing in Bavaria

The development team used the diverse conditions of the Altmühl Valley region in Bavaria, including inclines, variable road surfaces and tight bends, to test the suspension and assistance systems in real road traffic.

In related news, BMW unveils Vision BMW Alpina design study

“Vehicle manufacturers are being asked to bring new models to market faster, at lower cost and with more variants than ever, and the only way to do that is to move more of their development work into simulation,” said Catherine Wood, head of content at rFpro. “That only works if the digital environments, which engineers are relying on, are highly accurate and correlate to real development decisions. The Hakone model is proving popular with our customers as it’s a route their test drivers already know intimately.”

A route built at scale

The digital twin has been created using survey-grade lidar scan data to create a vehicle dynamics-grade road surface that is accurate to within 1mm in height across the entire 15km route. Every curb, drain, paint marking and barrier has been placed accurately to match its real-world counterpart. Where relevant, the paint markings are worn and cracked to increase realism and immersion for the driver.

Building a route of this nature and scale requires a careful balance of visual detail. A driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulator has to run in real time, so rFpro’s content team created engineering-grade fidelity where the driver and the vehicle model need it most. Detailed modeling extends approximately 25m either side of the road, where accuracy is critical for vehicle dynamics and where the driver’s eye is primarily focused. Beyond that, the surrounding landscape, which includes the distant hills and Mount Fuji, is represented by an optimized 3D model of the terrain, incorporating satellite imagery. This helps to balance run-time performance and driver immersion.

The Hakone Turnpike model includes 57,000 trees, 13km of Armco barriers, 460 drains and more than 45km of painted road markings. The tollgate and plazas at the entrance are fully modeled. The route also features 12m-high retaining walls that were particularly challenging to replicate. They sit directly in the driver’s field of view and any obvious repetition in their brickwork texture would be immediately noticeable, so the team used rFpro’s advanced material shaders and techniques to produce long, unique sections that look highly realistic even at close range.

Expanding Japanese portfolio

Hakone Turnpike joins rFpro’s growing library of Japanese content, which includes public road models of Tokyo’s C1 urban expressway, the Tomei expressway and numerous race and testing circuits, such as Suzuka, Fuji, Okayama, Motegi, Sugo and Autopolis.

rFpro has also completed high-fidelity lidar scans of public roads in Odawara, Yokkaichi and Kyoto, and is working with customers to develop these into future additions to its public road library.

“Hakone is one of the most demanding builds we have taken on,” added Wood. “The scale, the vegetation, the walls and the sheer quantity of surface detail all had to be handled without compromising simulator performance. The result is a route our customers can use with confidence for vehicle dynamics, and is incredibly immersive for drivers who already know it well.”

In related news, Daimler Truck to use VI-grade simulator to enhance ride comfort and vehicle development

“Alpina has always represented a very specific idea of performance and refinement, where speed and comfort are complementary ambitions. Our role as the new custodians of this brand is to preserve this distinctiveness and shape it for a contemporary context,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design. “Vision BMW Alpina shows how these qualities can be expressed with discipline and modernity, suggesting what our direction is for this brand as we move it into the future.”

Interior

The six-degree speed feature line continues through the interior, dividing the darker upper segment and the lighter lower segment. Full-grain leather – sourced from producers across the Alpine region – pairs with stitching inspired by the Deco lines.

A bridge stitch inspired by historic steering-wheel hand-stitching appears sparingly in heritage blue and green colors. A beveling technique inspired by watchmaking was used for the metal components, combining satin and polished finishes. Clear-cut crystal is reserved for the controls.

BMW Panoramic iDrive, including a new passenger display, extends across the dashboard, with a digital interface developed specifically for the concept. Heritage blue and green elements are integrated into the display and become more prominent as the driver transitions from Comfort+ to Speed mode within the BMW Panoramic Vision head-up display. The background imagery features a detailed representation of the Alpine landscape visible when looking south from Buchloe in Germany, where Alpina was founded.

Design and form

At 5,200mm in length, with a coupe roofline, its form is designed to convey both speed and comfort. A V8 powertrain drives the experience, tuned to produce the characteristic notes of the Alpina exhaust.

“In Vision BMW Alpina, we distil every element of the brand to its essence and apply it in a deeply modern and sophisticated way,” added Maximilian Missoni, head of BMW design – midsize and luxury cars and BMW Alpina. “Every detail reflects substance: in engineering, in materials and in the story it tells. The statements it makes are subtle and revealed only on a closer read. This interplay between purity and richness defines our approach to BMW Alpina design.”

The front end features a shark nose that reinterprets BMW’s kidney grille as a three-dimensional sculpture. From this shark nose, the exterior is organized around the speed feature line. Rising from the lower front corners at a 6° inclination, it runs along the side of the body and wraps around the rear.

Deco lines have been part of Alpina’s language since 1974. For the Vision BMW Alpina, the modernized deco lines are painted on the side of the body beneath the clear coat.

Inward-facing return surfaces are finished in a dark metallic tone, an approach inspired by the BMW 507, which uses chrome only on the inside of its kidney grilles. The inner surfaces of the shark nose incorporate a finely detailed deco-line graphic, while a concealed, softly illuminated perimeter becomes visible only when activated. The 22-inch front and 23-inch rear wheels feature the 20-spoke design that has been a constant at Alpina since 1971.

“BMW Alpina fills a gap in our portfolio between BMW and Rolls-Royce as we see even more potential in the high-end segment. With Alpina we have a strong legacy and a global community, which we want to build on while preserving the essence of what the brand stands for: speed, comfort and sophistication,” said Oliver Viellechner, head of BMW Alpina.

In related news, BMW M Motorsport partners with MdynamiX to advance virtual driving for vehicle development

In summary, rising demand could contribute to higher development costs for next-generation vehicle systems, such as autonomous driving, if the industry does not converge on interoperable standards.

According to TechInsights’ Automotive Ethernet – Architecture Change Drives Growth report, adoption of automotive ethernet is expanding rapidly but remains uneven across original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and regions.

In response to the report, the OPEN Alliance has called for greater alignment around its specifications and best practices to reduce variability, limit duplicated integration effort and support more scalable deployments.

“Automotive ethernet is set for rapid yet uneven growth as new architectures, higher sensor bandwidth and emerging applications drive a near-tripling of ethernet sockets in vehicles by 2032,” said OPEN Alliance president Suma Prabhakara. “As regions like China grow in overall socket share but remain internally fragmented, the OPEN Alliance’s role in reducing variability and accelerating consistent, standards‑based adoption becomes even more important. We encourage OEMs and suppliers to align with our work and share their implementation experience.”

The report found that the automotive ethernet socket market is set to grow from approximately 962,000 sockets in 2025 to 3.42 million in 2032, with the average number of ethernet sockets per vehicle forecast to rise from 11 to 27 by 2030. However, the findings also note that a small group of advanced OEMs install 4.5 times more ethernet ports per vehicle than the rest of the market. This means that while adoption is growing across the market, the overall maturity levels are volatile and vary widely across different OEMs and regions.

“With so many new automotive ethernet technologies entering the market, the industry cannot afford fragmented approaches,” said OPEN Alliance board member Samuel Sigfridsson. “Standards-based implementation of automotive ethernet that has been tested according to OPEN Alliance’s test suites will ensure interoperability and prevent the costly divergence that slows innovation.”

The report combines a bottom-up socket forecast with qualitive validation from an industry survey spanning key semiconductor vendors, OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, connector and harness suppliers and software companies.

According to the report, geopolitics is the top risk in terms of market destabilization. Researchers also found that the interplay of different technologies is set to shape the market’s trajectory – SERDES is expected to grow alongside, not be displaced by, ethernet, while time-sensitive networking (TSN) is projected to underpin nearly 50% of all ethernet-equipped vehicles by 2030. The report findings also highlight a major shift in automotive ethernet speed‑grade adoption, suggesting that automotive ethernet is prioritizing more high‑speed links, though adoption patterns remain uneven across OEMs and regions.

The report also provides an overview of application-level demands and potential plans for dispersion within the automotive market, along with a risk assessment overview.

The full report is available here

In related news, Kodiak AI announces autonomous trucking pilot in Canada

AGL SoDeV is an open-source reference platform for building software-defined vehicles. It combines the AGL Unified Code Base (UCB) with Linux containers, VirtIO, the Xen hypervisor, Zephyr RTOS and other Linux Foundation projects in a single pre-integrated package that runs on automotive systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), on virtual machines or in the cloud. SoDeV enables auto makers and suppliers to decouple software development from hardware availability, accelerating SDV time-to-market.

As the automotive industry moves toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs), demand is increasing for shared, open-source software platforms. AGL brings together auto makers, Tier 1 suppliers and technology companies to develop and maintain a common software stack to reduce fragmentation, shorten development timelines and support innovation across vehicle systems.

The addition of EMQ, Lineo Solutions, MediaTek, VA Linux Systems Japan and Very Good Ventures expands AGL’s expertise across areas including automotive semiconductors, connectivity, Linux engineering, in-vehicle user interfaces and embedded software tools that support large-scale SDV development.

“We’re excited to welcome these new members to the AGL community, each of which brings distinct and valuable expertise to the table,” said Dan Cauchy, executive director of Automotive Grade Linux. “The ecosystem around our SoDeV reference platform continues to grow, reflecting the breadth of innovation that open-source collaboration makes possible. The automotive industry is undergoing a fundamental shift to software-defined vehicles, and AGL is proud to be at the center of it.”

Available in latest AGL software release

An initial version of the AGL SoDeV reference platform is available in the latest AGL UCB software release, Ultimate Unagi, enabling developers to build and test an SDV system on Renesas Sparrow Hawk reference boards and cloud-based processor environments.

Announced in December 2025, the AGL SoDeV Reference Platform combines the AGL Unified Code Base (UCB) with multiple open-source projects hosted by the Linux Foundation to support the consolidation of ECUs, hardware abstraction through virtualization, and cloud integration for software-defined vehicles.

“The AGL platform represents exactly the kind of production-focused, community-driven approach to SDV software that our customers and partners need,” added Masahiro Sano, the chairman and CEO of Lineo Solutions.

In related news, Mayr Power Transmission to highlight advanced drivetrain testing solutions at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2026