Welcome, community members, to your first DVN Sensing newsletter of 2026! Let’s jump right on in, with a quick review of 2025’s top takeaways to inform us as the new year gets under way:
- China is a fast adopter of advanced ADAS systems. Starting with BYD offering an L2+ system as optional or standard on all their cars, advanced ADAS features have become standard for all top-10 Chinese brands. This is opposite the case in Europe, where L2+/2++ features are just starting to equip luxury brands, with AEB being still the strong focus. Chinese ADAS suppliers are also looking for business in EU; see our interview of iMotion.
- AEB improvement is a priority in the US with the new FMVSS 127 requiring high-speed performance (100 km/h for car-to-car) and PAEB (pedestrian ADB) working in the dark. Also in China, where a new law will require all new cars to come with AEB from 2027. The systems will have to work in specific critical scenarios such as roadworks (remember the Xiaomi crash in March 2025), also adding DMS to supervise the human occupant of the driver’s seat during L2+/2++ semi-autonomous driving.
- To compete with Chinese brands, western automakers will adopt the same development process, and sometimes the same suppliers as their Chinese competitors. They are using Chinese teams for the development of cars in China (VW-Audi), and sometimes for cars offered in the EU (Renault Twingo). In the EU, the weakest companies might be sold to Asian buyers (see ZF acquisition by Samsung/Harman in our business news).
- Innovations and sensors used for the automotive ADAS business will also be proposed for military applications. This could help western suppliers to rebalance their sales and profits. See our special report on this topic.
DVN will continue providing you all key information and contacts on the fast-moving ADAS market. We are please to welcome you to our next AEB & Safety Assessment Workshop, to be held on 26 March in Detroit. Today’s newsletter contains a preliminary docket.
We’re ever so glad you’re here with us. Enjoy this 46th newsletter!
All best,
