Synopsys @ CES-26: AI-Driven, Software-Defined Engineering
At the most recent CES, Synopsys presented AI-driven and software-defined engineering solutions designed to address the automotive industry’s significant challenge of accelerating innovation while minimising cost and complexity. Their offerings range from advanced system-level simulation to semiconductor design at the atomic level, enabling automakers and suppliers to virtualise both silicon and software development, predict system performance, and optimise reliability. This approach reduces prototyping expenses and shortens product release cycles.
Chief Product Management Officer Ravi Subramanian says, “The emergence of software-defined mobility and the integration of AI into vehicles require a fundamental transformation in automotive engineering. Synopsys equips automakers with tools to innovate at the speed demanded by intelligent, software-centric platforms. Through virtualised design, integration, and prototyping, we facilitate faster development, lower costs, reduced time to SOP (Start of Production), and enhanced next-generation performance and safety.”
Software now drives automotive profitability, making R&D efficiency essential. As OEMs move toward electrification, autonomy, and sustainability, traditional metrics fall short and testing costs soar. Virtualizing vehicle electronics for design, integration, and testing can reduce costs by 20 to 60 per cent, and speed up launches. This software-first strategy also creates new revenue through connected features, OTA updates, and lifecycle services, supporting sustainable growth in the era of software-defined vehicles.
Synopsys helps automotive leaders like Arbe Robotics, Audi, and Samsung succeed in this evolving landscape. Arbe CTO Dr. Noam Arkind says, “Delivering radar technology that transforms automotive safety requires innovation from antenna design to AI-driven perception. With Synopsys’ engineering IP and leading simulation, we can validate complex architectures, adhere to ISO 26262 safety standards, and accelerate development without costly hardware iterations. Synopsys’ systems-to-silicon expertise enables us to bridge hardware and software seamlessly, helping OEMs and tier-1 suppliers bring next-generation ADAS and autonomous features to market faster and with greater confidence.”
Audi CTO Geoffrey Bouquot says his company is “advancing the in-vehicle experience by putting the customer at the center of development. Virtual methods allow us to address this focus at the earliest stages of the process. With Synopsys’ simulation solutions, our teams leverage AI-driven models to accelerate design exploration and scale virtual validation across programs. This approach reduces physical prototyping and shortens development cycles while ensuring greater reliability and customer benefit – paving the way for safer, smarter, and more intuitive mobility experiences”.
And Haechang Lee, EVP and head of the system LSI sensor business team at Samsung Electronics, says “By integrating the Samsung ISOCELL Auto 1H1 into Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors, we are enabling OEMs and suppliers to virtually experience real-world driving conditions with predictive accuracy — long before hardware integration. This collaboration represents an important step toward accelerating autonomous vehicle development, reducing risk, and helping shape a smarter, safer mobility ecosystem”.
Recent Synopsys announcements:
- Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors now includes the Samsung ISOCELL Auto 1H1 automotive image sensor to simulate performance with high fidelity under real-life conditions. This critically enables OEMs and suppliers to directly implement results early in the design cycle without hardware.
- Synopsys will support the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to enhance single-seater safety standards. Today’s single-seater cockpits are already highly refined for safety. Synopsys will support the FIA to unlock the next safety advancements using state-of-the-art design optimization and predictively accurate digital human body models to process thousands of parameters.
- Synopsys introduced a new Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK) for Arm Zena compute subsystems (CSS), enabling automotive teams to rapidly build, integrate, and validate systems on a standardized, safety-capable compute platform — on-prem or in the cloud. The VDK provides a SOAFEE blueprint showcasing the OpenAD autonomous driving stack, providing a reference implementation to jump-start development. This solution supports scalable virtual development with multi-ECU, multi-vendor integration as well as CI/CD pipelines from concept through silicon for continuous updates throughout the vehicle lifecycle.
- Synopsys and IPG Automotive are demonstrating an expanded multi-ECU prototype with multi-fidelity, multi-ECU electronics simulation integrating IPG CarMaker and Synopsys virtualization technologies via SIL Kit. The prototype aims to accelerate the development of SoC-based electronics and system software; enable rapid, reliable SDV validation; and establish a continuous test strategy that together help improve software quality, reduce development and post-sale warranty costs, and enable faster time to market.
- SiMa.ai announced the first integrated capability with Synopsys resulting from the companies’ strategic collaboration. The joint solution provides a blueprint to accelerate architecture exploration and early virtual software development for AI-ready, next-generation automotive SoCs that support applications such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and In-vehicle-Infotainment (IVI).
- Synopsys and NXP Semiconductors are expanding their collaboration with Synopsys VDKs supporting the new S32N7 family of high-performance computers for AI-powered, next-generation vehicle cores.
- To simplify complex vehicle software management, Texas Instruments is collaborating with Synopsys to provide a VDK for its TDA5 SoC family. The Synopsys VDK enables electronics digital twin capabilities that help engineers significantly accelerate time-to-market for SDVs.
In addition, automotive engineers rely on Synopsys VDKs to begin software development using virtual prototypes of SoCs months before silicon is available, enabling full system bring-up within days of silicon availability and accelerating vehicle time to market by up to 12 months.
Synopsys is accelerating the development of software-defined vehicles through industry-leading virtualization solutions that enable electronics digital twins. These capabilities combined with partner solutions and expertise support system vehicle development, testing, and validation before silicon production, helping to reduce integration risk, shorten release cycles, and enable earlier and more reliable SOP.
