LG Electronics has begun mass production of a 5G Release 16 smart telematics unit integrating up to 12 antennas and has started deliveries to a premium European automaker. The company said the supply deal marks the solution’s first deployment in a production vehicle in Europe. The product combines a communications module and multiple antennas in a single unit, aiming to improve connectivity while reducing radio-frequency cabling, wiring complexity, vehicle weight and cost. Conventional...

Internet of things and embedded computer technology company Kontron has launched a production line for 5G communication modules at its Düsseldorf, Germany, site.  The line will produce 5G Automotive Network Access Devices (NADs) and 5G Industrial M.2 communication modules, Kontron said. The company said it is the only manufacturer worldwide to develop these modules in Europe and produce them in Germany. Mona Neubaur, minister for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Ene...

China Speed has become one of the defining themes in the global automotive industry, particularly as US and European original equipment manufacturers look to close the gap with increasingly competitive Chinese manufacturers. While the discussion often centers on lower costs and shorter development cycles, suppliers are seeing the differences far more directly in day-to-day program execution. The gap is most visible not in engineering capability itself, but in how quickly organizations can turn d...

Over the past few years, the automotive industry has been preoccupied with a deceptively simple question: how can Western carmakers match the pace of their mainland Chinese rivals? The discussion is often framed with vehicle development timelines, engineering costs and manufacturing efficiency in mind. Yet, beneath these headline metrics lies a less visible factor that increasingly shapes competitive advantage — the speed at which companies can develop, validate and deploy new materials. Fr...

For decades, the automotive industry has relied on the V-model as its preferred blueprint for engineering discipline. Conceived in an era when vehicle systems were largely mechanical and development cycles stretched comfortably over several years, the model offered manufacturers a reassuringly linear logic: requirements flowed downward through design and implementation before climbing back upward through validation and verification. Each stage mirrored another, and every requirement could, in pr...

For decades, the automotive industry has relied on the reassuring geometry of the V-Model. Conceived for an era when vehicles were defined chiefly by mechanical engineering, the framework brought order to complexity: requirements cascading down one side of the “V”, implementation at the base and validation climbing methodically back upward. In an industry where failure can trigger recalls, regulatory scrutiny or safety crises, such discipline became indispensable. Yet, the rise of the sof...