Eco-innovation

This zone highlighted the technologies that deliver on vehicle dynamics and performance while protecting the earth through reduced CO2 and increased efficiency.

Magna is developing highly innovative systems of components that meet a wide range of customer requirements, while providing an optimum combination of BIC efficiency, safety, driving dynamics, and convenience, in powertrain electrification. The company claims that it can provide best in class attributes for the entire electrified powertrain, whether it provides vehicle expertise, full powertrain systems or individual components.

The eBeam is a classic example since it is a drop-in replacement for traditional beam axle in passenger trucks and light commercial vehicles. Scalable from 120 to 250 kW with single or dual electric motors, the system maintains OEM payload and towing capabilities. It does not require any restructuring of existing OEM truck platforms, uses existing OEM suspension designs, existing OEM brake packages and tube-end bearing structures.

The eDS HV Mid+ eDrive with a power range of 120 to 160 kW is primary or secondary eDrive offering enhanced efficiency of over 95 percent. It provides improved traction (2-speed option), performance and safety with torque vectoring option while also delivering best in class packaging with reduced size.

In an electric, autonomous or new mobility vehicle, the inevitable new systems will draw more power. Magna’s systems are integral in making the future vehicle more efficient by extending range capability, thereby reducing anxiety, improving fuel economy and reducing emissions. Within the automotive industry, Active Aerodynamics has saved trillions of kg of CO2. Increasing global regulations are pushing OEMs to offer features like the Active Grille Shutter to meet targets. Magna’s active aerodynamic products help OEMs to make their vehicles move faster, further for less. This helps in reduced emissions, improved fuel economy and extended range. It benefits EVs largely from drag-reducing aerodynamic devices and SUVs, preferred by global consumers and are more difficult to optimise aerodynamically. Magna’s solution helps the OEM not to sacrifice styling as this portfolio provides non-visible and visible options with seamless integration.

As a structural product and material processing leader, the global company has brought together its composite expertise with metal forming prowess to develop an essential element of any electric architecture, the battery tray. Light-weighting is an integral of autonomous, electrification and smart mobility to become a reality. For instance, the battery tray contributes to the structural and safety aspects of the body in white while protecting high-voltage batteries from damage and water. Magna offers battery tray assemblies in steel, aluminium and multi-materials including composites, made through different joining technologies.

Dynamic Drive

With its continuous focus on innovating technologies, Magna has a huge buffer of building blocks to support the mobility transition, concerning the ADAS – advanced driver-assist system. Its expertise in cameras has been a critical building block in its journey to autonomous solutions, supported by solid-state LiDAR and military-grade ICON RADAR as key sensors for complete systems.

The domain controllers function as the key to bringing it all together and enabling the best technology to provide visibility in all situations; making L2+ features a reality today and proving the foundation for full autonomy later.

The exterior of the vehicle is even more important when talking about autonomy. Sensors, cameras, RADAR and LiDAR can be integrated into vehicle exteriors using advanced plastics and thoughtful design. This includes materials that signals can transmit through while still providing durability and design freedom. Magna Mezzo panel is the first-to-market, large-format decorated front panel using in-mould film. It integrated a state-of-the-art sensor and light engines to enable unique OEM brand distinction. Besides, it also combined innovative materials and process technologies to achieve a high-quality lit surface.

Magna’s ADAS solutions connect OEMs to their customers with features that improve their lives. The Valet Park option provides L4 functionality for autonomous parking, allowing for optimum convenience and efficiencies. The Trailer Tow offers convenience and control while trailering taking all the risk and guesswork out of parking with trailers.

As Magna is into the entire eco-system of making modules to the OEMs besides, assembling cars, the company’s understands vehicle as a whole and how individual systems complement each other. Therefore, it is not limited to traditional sensor placements. It can place each and every sensor in its optimum location. As market leaders in lighting, mirror and camera systems, it has the unique ability to offer complete ADAS systems down to the product systems, which the given sensors are integrated into.

For example, the CLEARVIEW digital rear vision solutions, an advanced camera monitoring system, enhance driver experiences. Enabling customisable features safety features such as the ability to see multiple camera views in the interior mirror, including a view from the rear of the trailer.

Driver Monitoring – with distracted driving being more prevalent this day and age, Magna’s inside mirror with an imbedded camera for driver monitoring actively monitors and reduces distracted driving through customisable alerts and notifications.

INIVISION Adaptive Driving Beam – intelligent headlamps offers advanced features such as glare-free high beam, speed-dependent lighting, virtual dynamic bending, hazard/pedestrian detection and tourist conversion.

Intuitive Comfort

Vehicles of the future need to be as responsive and intelligent to personal connections with drivers and passengers. To support the emerging needs Magna has developed technologies to support intuitive and responsive human and machine interface, making the vehicle experience unique whether it is own vehicle or shared.

In SMARTACCESS technology, the company fused mechanical systems’ capabilities with the intelligence of electronic control systems to enable new ways of interacting with the vehicle. For doors, frunks, tailgates, liftgates, and more – the company has new, creative, and high-tech solutions to deliver unique vehicle access experiences. For instance, the power side door enables consumers with unique vehicle access experiences. It is intuitively designed to offer customisable HMI solutions such as gesture or tactile touch. Advanced sensors provide enhanced safety and obstacle detection features.

Made lightweight through a composite hood the SMARTACCESS Power Frunk allows consumers to seamless access the front cargo area.

The thermoplastic Multifunctional Liftgate is a modular tailgate with easy access concepts and lightweight architectures. It offers ideal cargo handling and access experience.

As cities and roads change, the way the cars are used will follow suit. The company’s smart mobility seating allows vehicles to be used and shared differently by making them more adaptable, comfortable, and ready for the long-haul by ensuring comfort and cleanability are priorities.

Power Zero G Seat makes sleeping comfortably in the car a reality by offering a unique reclining pivot located below the H-point for a more natural, ergonomic experience and maximum adjustability. The 4Mode seating provides a smooth transition between sitting upright, lying back for a repose, stadium flipping for added storage on the floor, folding, and kneeling for a level flat surface suitable for a package or a laptop.

FREEFORM Seat Trim technology help remove barriers with traditional cut and sew seat trim covers. This trilaminate moulded seat cover allows OEMs to differentiate their brand through entirely new styling options, better comfort, improved breathability and cleanability.

In addition, the seats are easier to clean as they feature simple construction with a seamless surface – making brushing away crumbs and wiping with an antibacterial wipe much easier than with traditional seats. Designers now have the ability to go beyond restrictions with radii as sharp as a 3-4mm, compared to 20-25mm for traditional cut-and-sew techniques, a deep draw of up to 4”, and quilting designs resulting in the seat to stand out from the crowd.

In the case of lighting the company offers customers a wide choice of various lighting technologies, each with specific characteristics that have been designed to help achieve striking and captivating brand identities. The company has a complete portfolio to address all customers’ illumination needs from functional headlamps and taillamps to decorative exterior trim lighting.

For instance, the FLECSFORM offers styling freedom for complex shapes and uniform lighting in an extremely thin package, enabled by mini LED technology. The vivid LED panels give a unique 3D styling opportunities and customisable animations while illuminated exterior trim utilises state of the art light engines enabling a thin decorative product. Combining innovative materials and process technologies helped the company achieve a homogenous lit finish.

Complete Vehicles

Magna is a global leader in a high-tech complex industry with in-depth vehicle engineering, systems knowledge and complete vehicle manufacturing excellence, making it the go-to partner for new entrants and traditional OEMs alike.

Mobility is in a huge transition phase. Within the other areas, global megatrends in digital transformation, environmental impact and health and well-being have a huge long-term impact on the automotive industry in electrification, automated driving and new mobility. This results in challenges for its customers. Traditional OEMs and new entrants need to make high investments, meet new legal regulations while ensuring a fast market entry with these new solutions. Moreover, this is often linked to volatile volumes, which requires flexible production assets. To support these emerging needs, Magna offers several innovative technologies. The company’s Complete Vehicles is the experienced and flexible partner from the first sketch to the start of production and beyond for all those quests. Irrespective of the customer’s initial situation, it can complete it with all kinds of services so that in the end, a full vehicle is created. With its employees’ passion and extensive automotive know-how, the company enables its customers to successfully bring their vision of mobility to the road. (MT)

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German tier 1 supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and the BMW Group have entered into a long-term supply agreement for passenger car drive systems. The contract, valued at several billion euros, extends until the late 2030s.

The agreement focuses on the supply and continued development of the 8-speed automatic transmission (8HP). The partners aim to support low-emission mobility and maintain technological flexibility during the industry transition.

A central component of the partnership is the technical evolution of the 8HP transmission kit to meet the requirements of electrified drives. The development will focus on increasing efficiency and performance for future vehicle concepts.

Mathias Miedreich, CEO of ZF, said, “Together with BMW, we are sending a strong signal for innovation, efficiency, and sustainability in an industry undergoing dynamic change. This agreement highlights the strategic importance of our 8-speed automatic transmission as a key technology for the transformation of drive systems.”

The duration of the contract provides both ZF and BMW with planning stability in a changing market. ZF aims to strengthen its position as a system supplier while reducing risks through close collaboration with the carmaker.

Sebastian Schmitt, Head of ZF's Electrified Drive Technologies division, explained, “The new agreement with BMW shows how important long-term planning horizons are for technological advancements. It creates clarity and stability for both companies and enables us to align the next generation of the 8HP specifically toward efficiency, performance, and long-term viability.”

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Aumovio has entered a supply agreement with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Leapmotor to provide safety components for the carmaker’s B and C platforms.

Several models within Leapmotor’s B platform now utilise Aumovio's long-range radar, electric parking brake and airbag control unit (ACU). Models on the C platform, including the C10, C11 and C16 SUVs, feature the latest generation of the MK C2 one-box brake system, alongside the long-range radar and ACU.

The project was completed with a development cycle approximately one-third shorter than traditional automotive timelines. Aumovio attributed its speed to ‘local-for-local’ strategy in China, where the company operates 20 sites and employs around 10,000 staff. In 2024, Aumovio held a 14 percent share of market revenue in the region.

The supplied technologies include:

• MK C2 Brake System: A unit combining the master cylinder, electronic brake system, and brake booster. It is produced locally in Shanghai.
• Long-Range Radar: A sensor with a detection range of up to 280 metres, used for driver assistance across both platforms.
• Airbag Control Unit (ACU): Integrated with crash satellite sensors, these components are manufactured in Changchun.

Boris Mergell, Head of the Safety and Motion business area at Aumovio, said, “Pairing ‘China speed’ with ‘German quality’ technologies helped us to support a rapid roll-out with our latest safety technologies. This underscores Aumovio’s course towards an adaptive powerhouse that works flexibly and closely with customers to innovate. It also shows that we continue to strengthen our customer relationships in the important market China.”

The partnership supports Leapmotor’s international presence. The B10 and B05 models, which feature Aumovio's ACU and radar technology, were showcased at the IAA 2025 in Munich as part of the manufacturer's European entry.

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Bengaluru-headquartered ER&D company L&T Technology Services (LTTS) has announced a multi-year engagement within its mobility segment from an automotive manufacturer. The agreement involves software, connectivity and digital engineering services across vehicle technology domains. This win follows the company’s investments in R&D labs and mobility infrastructure designed for programs with global manufacturers.

The engagement covers mobility engineering capabilities, including embedded systems, digital platforms, verification and validation, cloud integration and cybersecurity. LTTS intends to use its engineering expertise and delivery frameworks to support the customer's technology roadmap. 

At present, LTTS operates 22 design centres and 100 innovation labs globally.

The agreement strengthens the partnership between LTTS and the automotive manufacturer in the area of mobility engineering. The company provides design, development, and testing services across the mobility, sustainability, and tech segments. 

Alind Saxena, Executive Director and President, Mobility and Tech at L&T Technology Services, said, “We are proud to deepen our partnership with the valued customer through this strategic engagement. LTTS brings together domain-led engineering, secure development practices and excellence in global delivery to accelerate the future of premium mobility. The win reflects the trust placed in our teams and our commitment to delivering world-class engineering at scale”.

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French technology company Valeo and NATIX Network have announced a partnership to develop a multi-camera World Foundation Model (WFM). The project combines Valeo’s research in artificial intelligence and generative modelling with NATIX’s decentralised physical infrastructure network (DePIN) to create an open-source platform for autonomous driving and robotics.

The initiative aims to move beyond perception-based models by creating a system capable of predicting future states and reasoning about physical interactions in a four-dimensional environment. The model will be trained using NATIX’s data network, which has collected 600,000 hours of video data across the US, Europe and Asia over seven months. This data provides the multi-camera inputs necessary for the spatial perception required by autonomous vehicles and robots.

The partnership builds upon Valeo’s existing open-source frameworks, VaViM (Video Autoregressive Model) and VaVAM (Video-Action Model). While these frameworks were previously trained primarily on front-camera datasets, the integration of NATIX’s multi-camera network expands the AI’s field of vision to 360 degrees.

Under the open-source framework, the partners will release models, datasets and training tools. This approach is intended to allow the research community to fine-tune models and benchmark physical AI across various driving conditions and geographic regions. The collaboration seeks to accelerate the deployment of end-to-end AI models by learning from real-world edge cases captured by vehicles in operation.

Marc Vrecko, Chief Executive Officer, Valeo’s Brain Division, said, “Since our creation in 2018, Valeo’s AI research center has been at the forefront of AI research in the automotive industry, especially in the fields of assisted and autonomous driving. Our goal has always been to advance mobility intelligence safely and responsibly. By combining Valeo’s generative world modeling research expertise with NATIX’s global multi-camera data, we are accelerating both the quality and the accessibility of next-generation end-to-end AI models, enabling the research community to build upon strong open models.”

Alireza Ghods, CEO and Co-Founder, NATIX, added, “WFMs are a once-in-a-generation opportunity — similar to the rise of LLMs in 2017–2020. The teams that build the first scalable world models will define the foundation of the next AI wave: Physical AIs. With our distributed multi-camera network, NATIX has a clear advantage of being able to move faster than large OEMs.”

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