Tokyo-headquartered semiconductor major Renesas Electronics Corporation has expanded its presence in India’s chips ecosystem through new partnerships, infrastructure and strategic investment in local talent. The Japanese semiconductor giant announced two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, aimed at fostering innovation through startups and academic institutions.

The MoUs, signed with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the MeitY’s Chips to Startup (C2S) programme, focus on supporting local startups and promoting industry-academia collaboration in VLSI and embedded semiconductor systems.

The announcement coincided with the inauguration of Renesas’ newly expanded offices in Bengaluru and Noida. These facilities will serve as key innovation and R&D hubs, as the company ramps up operations across India.

Under the first MoU, Renesas will support Indian startups by providing product engineering resources, including Renesas development boards and Altium Designer – industry-leading PCB design software. The second MoU focuses on academic collaboration, offering development tools, educational training and cloud access to Altium 365 to enhance experiential learning for students and foster next-generation engineering talent.

The C2S programme involves over 250 academic institutions and around 15 startups, creating a broad base for indigenous semiconductor innovation.

Malini Narayanamoorthi, India Country Manager and VP, MID Engineering, Analog & Connectivity Group, Renesas, said, "The inauguration of our expanded offices marks a significant milestone for Renesas in India. It reflects our unwavering commitment to innovation, excellence and the nurturing of local talent. By building products in India, for India and the world, we continue to drive growth and deliver meaningful impact across the Indian market. We are proud to sign two MoUs under the MeitY C2S programme, focused on advancing research, fostering innovation, and nurturing product-focused engineers. These strategic collaborations align with the Make in India initiative, aiming to strengthen local design and manufacturing capabilities and empower homegrown talent to drive the future of industry."

Renesas also inaugurated its new offices in Bengaluru and Noida – two of India’s key semiconductor hubs. The new Bengaluru facility, now the company’s largest site in India, brings together approximately 500 employees, including engineers from recently acquired Altium and Part Analytics. The facility features state-of-the-art labs and collaborative spaces designed to harness India’s engineering talent for global innovation.

The Noida office integrates engineering and business functions, with a strong focus on high-performance computing and automotive SoC development through the company’s R-Car platform. This site is set to play a pivotal role in Renesas’ global product development strategy.

Going forward, Renesas aims to generate over 10 percent of its global revenue from India by 2030 and plans to expand its local workforce to 1,000 employees by end-2025. This follows recent strategic moves, including a collaboration with CG Power and Stars Microelectronics on an OSAT facility in Gujarat and an academic partnership with IIT Hyderabad.

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Exicom Tele-Systems has introduced Exicom One, a solution for the construction and operation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The service handles site surveys, electrical setup, software, operations and maintenance.

The launch coincides with the expansion of charging networks by Charge Point Operators (CPOs) in India. These organisations plan to deploy chargers, including DC units, by 2030.

The solution provides a framework for infrastructure deployment by combining hardware and software. The company is providing end-to-end support right from site assessment & planning for pre-installation, to civil works, electrical integration and hardware setup for deployment. It also provides AI-driven management, diagnostics and maintenance to support the EV charging operations.

Exicom One manages the orchestration of firmware and software. The platform allows businesses to monitor and optimise stations in real time.

The company recently partnered with an EV manufacturer to install charging stations along highway corridors and at traffic points. The infrastructure is designed to integrate renewable energy systems and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) applications.

The service also utilises Harmony Connect, an AI platform for predictive maintenance.

Anant Nahata, Managing Director and CEO, Exicom, said, “India’s EV story will only move as fast as the infrastructure behind it. While hardware innovation gets most of the attention, it is execution on the ground that truly defines success. Exicom One is built to remove that friction by bringing every piece of the puzzle together under one accountable partner. It is a smarter, faster way for CPOs and fleets to scale with confidence and focus on what really matters: delivering reliable charging experiences.”

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German tier 1 supplier ZF is presenting a new ‘Active Noise Reduction’ software function for vehicle chassis at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026. The purely software-based function reduces in-vehicle tyre noise transmitted through chassis components without requiring additional hardware. The company plans to expand the use of the function to other ZF chassis actuators in the future.

The solution uses ZF’s Smart Chassis Sensor with an integrated acceleration sensor to measure vibrations from the tyres. A developed algorithm recognises the characteristic noise patterns of tyre cavity noise around 200 hertz.

The software generates a counter-signal via ZF’s cubiX software through the valves of semi-active dampers (CDC). The function uses micro-movements of the damper to specifically reduce noise interference without impairing the damper function.

The technology achieves noise reductions of more than 3 dB, with future potential for up to 10 dB. This software-based noise reduction is achieved without additional installation costs or space requirements. Active Noise Reduction can be adapted to different vehicle types via software, opening a market for lower-priced vehicles.

Dr. Peter Holdmann, Member of the ZF Board of Management and Head of Division Chassis Solutions, said, “Active Noise Reduction is an excellent example of how we use smart algorithms to make ZF components even more efficient. This gives our semi-active CDC dampers a clear unique selling point in the market and sets new standards in comfort – without the need for any additional noise dampening hardware.”

Series production is scheduled to start in 2028. In the future, the function may be used in other ZF actuators, such as for active reduction of brake squeal.

Holdmann added, “Thanks to our system expertise, we are able to offer our mechatronic actuators as true innovation drivers with the help of smart algorithms and we will extend our software-based control approach to other ZF actuators in the future. The goal for us is clear: mechatronic actuators that are capable of efficiently reducing both their own and external noise with the help of software.”

The new function fits into ZF’s Chassis 2.0 product strategy, which uses intelligent and networkable actuators to enable new chassis functions via software.

Holdmann noted: “With our Chassis 2.0, we are laying the foundation for the software-defined vehicle.”

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California-based Drako Tech has announced DriveOS with HyperSafety, an automotive operating system designed for single-Electronic Control Unit (ECU) operation. The platform consolidates vehicle subsystems, including control systems, ADAS and digital cockpit, into one unit to reduce costs and enable over-the-air (OTA) updates.

Launched in 2015 and utilised in Drako GTE and Drako Dragon vehicles, DriveOS supports internal combustion, electric and hybrid propulsion systems.

The HyperSafety system provides real-time performance via a single-ECU architecture. According to Drako Tech, the networking backbone facilitates communication four times faster than multi-ECU Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) automotive Ethernet.

The architecture employs hardware isolation and redundancy to maintain operation during component failures. By using a reduced code footprint and hardware partitioning, the platform aims to limit attack surfaces for cyber security and streamline validation processes.

Industry Integration

Drako Tech provides development environments that run natively on DriveOS:

• Control Systems: Allows engineers to build vehicle controls from Simulink models.
• Digital Cockpit: A system for instrument clusters, navigation and multimedia.
• ADAS: A software foundation for driver assistance with low-latency control.

The platform addresses the complexity of multi-ECU architectures, which typically require separate units for functions such as seats, doors and thermal management. Drako Tech uses a separation kernel to run safety-critical systems alongside non-critical systems, such as infotainment, on the same ECU.

DriveOS introduces hard real-time capabilities to Linux without requiring kernel changes. This allows developers to use Linux libraries and tools for safety-critical systems.

Key features include:

• Performance: 108-microsecond end-to-end performance compared to 514 microseconds for TSN Ethernet.
• Consolidation: The ability to move functions onto a single PC architecture to reduce hardware mass and complexity.
• Redundancy: Hardware-backed isolation ensures faults in one subsystem do not affect driving functions.
• Cloud Integration: Real-time fleet management and diagnostics without creating access paths to control systems.

Dean Drako, CEO, Drako Tech, said, “Nearly half of the cost of new vehicles is tied up in software and electronics. Drako Tech now offers all OEMs worldwide – regardless of size or influence – a definitive leap in their ability to deliver exceptionally safe, connected, AI-enhanced vehicles, with massive cost advantages. We are the first to achieve the ultimate goal – a single-ECU, hard real-time operating system and unified electronics architecture with mixed criticality – while providing OEMs a flexible deployment path.”

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German technology company dSPACE is set to showcase end-to-end test solutions at CES 2026 to assist vehicle manufacturers with the development of software-defined vehicles (SDV).

The company will present a validation portfolio featuring AI-supported software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) solutions.

It is exploring how generative and agentic AI technologies can support SIL testing and enable CI/CD pipelines for validation. An exhibit will demonstrate a Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot solution for the generation of virtual ECUs for SIL tests.

To meet the requirements of short-cycle development, dSPACE is demonstrating a CI/CT concept presenting a cloud-native validation approach. This includes a GitLab pipeline integrated with VEOS, the dSPACE SIL test software, and SCALEXIO, the HIL test platform.

dSPACE is also presenting a HIL Farm Management Demo designed to increase test efficiency. This displays the availability and utilisation of HIL systems and potential errors to reduce system downtimes and improve the use of test resources.

The technology company will use its test solutions for battery charging and battery management systems to demonstrate end-to-end SIL/HIL validation. Efficiency is increased by reusing test cases, simulation models, bus configurations and user interfaces across both methods. This allows for the demonstration of functions, including conformance tests, with the same layouts and cases.

The company is introducing DARTS ARROW, a radar solution for functional testing of sensors. Developed for end-of-line tests and periodic technical inspections, it validates safety systems such as emergency braking and lane departure warnings by simulating traffic scenarios to detect sensor errors.

For security, dSPACE will present HydraVision, a cybersecurity test framework. Using test case templates, it allows for the integration of cybersecurity tests into the development process to identify and mitigate weak points.

Additionally, the new SCALEXIO Essential system expands the SCALEXIO real-time platform. It is designed for the validation of edge ECUs for mechatronic applications in the automotive, agricultural, and construction machinery sectors. The system includes a software package and is intended as a cost-efficient entry point for HIL testing.

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