The Infineon Automotive Ecosystem Summit 2026

The 2026 Infineon Automotive Ecosystem Summit took place in late June at the Infineon headquarters at am Campeon in Munich. The event brought together the ecosystem around Infineon's automotive microcontrollers, with a particular emphasis on software stacks and development tools.

The event was very nicely produced. The exhibitor booths followed a common graphical style and physical setup with identical stands with a decorative blue LED strip.

It was swelteringly hot in Munich during the event, but that did not deter the attendees from having intense and deep discussions. We ended the day with a beautiful sunset over the lake that surrounds the site.

Themes

The event featured speakers from both users of Infineon hardware, the partners that help build it, and the software ecosystem that unlocks the hardware functionality. There was a focus on RISC-V as that is the architecture that powers the next-generation microcontrollers from Infineon.

Software-defined vehicle (SDV) is currently the big trend in the automotive industry. It affects all parts of the software stack on the central compute nodes and reaches out to the corners of the car through zonal architectures. Efficient software and system development for SDV and zonals requires that we free automotive developers from the constraints of hardware.

The solution to that is to employ virtualization – simulating the hardware from individual IP blocks all the way up to networks of ECUs (central compute, zonals, controllers, and all the other electronics boxes found in the car). Virtualization supports both shift-left and long-term stretch-right software development and testing, particularly in combination with simulations of the vehicle and the world in which it operates.

The Rust programming language continues to make inroads into the automotive industry. The promise of compile-time safety checking is very attractive to developers of safety- and security-critical systems. Such systems are found throughout a modern vehicle, and they become even more important with the emergence of software-defined vehicles.

The event was an effective catalyst for interaction between representatives of companies that might not previously have known about each other. We had a great time explaining virtualization and how it applies across the product lifecycle and throughout the e/e architecture of a vehicle.

The Mandatory Car

It is an unspoken rule that every automotive-themed event must include a physical vehicle. In this case, we had a BMW Neue Klasse electric standing outside the main conference hall. It was a dark color that was really difficult to capture in a photo...

The architecture of this car is a prime example of a modern SDV. There are four central compute nodes dealing with automated driving, infotainment, driving dynamics, and basic vehicle functions. These are connected to four zones: rear, roof, left, and right. Each zone has a zonal controller or two that handle the local ECUs, sensors, actuators, and other functions.

Find out more about what we can offer at Cadence Automotive Solutions and VLABworks.com!