Automotive Hardware-In-The-Loop: A Promising Technique Revolutionizing Automotive Development

Highlights:

• Introduction to Automotive HIL
• Potential use cases of this advanced simulation technique
• Key acquisitions by top players
• A Revolutionary initiative taken by industry leaders in 2025

The term Automotive Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) describes a testing methodology where a vehicle's hardware is integrated into a software environment to simulate various real-world scenarios. This approach allows the hardware to respond to these simulated conditions. This process involves testing how the components and subsystems of a vehicle interact and cooperate, demonstrating how the functionality of individual parts impacts the overall performance of the vehicle.

Nowadays, modern organizations highly rely on testing and validating the components of vehicles in different scenarios to ensure their safe and reliable production.  HIL testing is feasible for vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines, EVs, and even motorcycles. With the rise in  demand for hybrids and EVs, HIL testing is expected to become integral for the current and futuristic automotive companies. This is expected to drive the growth of the Automotive Hardware-In-The-Loop industry in the coming years.

The growing importance of Automotive HIL testing in today’s automotive landscape

In the past few years, Automotive HIL testing has become more prevalent in the automotive sector to ensure the reliability of rapidly evolving EV and ADAS or Active Safety systems. HIL testing plays a key role in assuring the increasing connectivity and interdependence between systems and vehicle domains. Engineers now are able to validate the performance of sensors and control algorithms in a controlled environment by simulating various driving scenarios, ensuring safety and reliability before deployment in real vehicles.

On the other hand, this advanced technique is becoming integral to Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) workflows in automotive software development. This approach facilitates frequent software updates and rapid validation cycles, significantly reducing time-to-market while maintaining high quality and reliability standards.

Moreover, the use of digital twins in HIL testing allows engineers to create virtual replicas of vehicle systems. This technology enables comprehensive testing under various conditions without the need for physical prototypes, thereby saving time and resources while enhancing accuracy in performance validation. Furthermore, it is essential for validating the real-time processing capabilities of electronic control units that manage data from multiple sources, such as cameras, radars, and GPS systems. This ensures the timely and effective response of the vehicles to dynamic environments, which is important for safety-driven applications.

Rohde & Schwarz and IPG Automotive’s advanced HIL automotive radar test solution

In April 2024, Rohde & Schwarz, a leading technology company, and IPG Automotive, a renowned software company introduced a comprehensive hardware-in-the-loop automotive radar test solution. This new solution combines the CarMaker simulation software of IPG Automotive with the AREG800A radar object simulator and QAT100 advanced antenna array of Rohde & Schwarz. This advanced HIL solution enables modern vehicle manufacturers to simulate ADAS/AD scenarios. Through this partnership, the companies aim to bring autonomous driving testing from the proving ground to the development lab.

IPG Automotive’s CarMaker simulation solution helps in the development and end-to-end testing of cars and light commercial vehicles across all development stages. It also provides a high-resolution 3D engine for detailed simulation of the complete sensor stack and integration into existing tool landscapes, with support for various standards and interfaces.

On the other hand, the R&S AREG800A generates multiple artificial objects with independent range, angle and radial velocity, and radar cross-section. The open simulation interface, namely, ASAM OSI, links the R&S AREG800A with CarMaker HIL test automation, facilitating a realistic driving scenario assessment within radar HIL testing.

Valeo and Amazon Web Services joined hands to build new digital services for SDVs

In January 2025, Valeo, an automotive supplier, and Amazon Web Services, a comprehensive cloud computing platform to transform software-defined vehicles (SDVs) in the automotive sector. This collaboration aims to accelerate the development, testing, and validation of distributed vehicle software across various domains, including ADAS and infotainment. At CES 2025, Valeo unveiled three key solutions, including the Valeo Virtualized Hardware Lab, the Valeo Cloud Hardware Lab, and Assist XR, which are collectively expected to enhance vehicle functionality and improve the overall driving experience.

The essence

Automotive Hardware-in-the-Loop has become an indispensable part of the modern automotive software development process, validating and testing intricate software systems with physical hardware components. Moreover, the integration of modern technologies such as AI and machine learning is expected to create wider opportunities for the landscape in the years to come.

To gain more insights into the futuristic applications of Automotive Hardware-in-the-Loop, get in touch with our esteemed analysts today!

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