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Solving a critical EV Safety challenge: post-crash door unlocking. Case Studies September 25, 2026 Electronic door systems look sleek and reduce wind drag. But if the electronics fail in a crash, there is often no obvious mechanical way for occupants to escape or any way for first responders to pull them free. The issues are not just theoretical. In the wake of several preventable deaths, governments around the world are putting new safety regulations in place. China is leading the way, with legal requirements taking effect on January 1, 2027. This, in turn, has put time and cost pressures on OEMs: How do they make electronic handles safer without having to redesign the entire electronics architecture? Engineering Redundancy for the Electric Era To address these challenges, Aptiv developed a unique solution called the Emergency Power Module (EPM), which provides both independent, reliable backup power and door unlocking without requiring that the electronics system be reworked. This product has since been launched with a leading Chinese OEM. In many vehicles, door unlocking depends on a single body controller and a single power source, often located at the front or rear of the vehicle. In a major crash, these components and their harnesses can be damaged, preventing the unlock command or the required power from reaching the doors. To reduce this risk, Aptiv designed the EPM as a compact module that works separately from the existing body controller. It continuously monitors for crash signals and messages from both the CAN FD (Controller Area Network with Flexible Data-Rate) bus and a direct hardware signal from the airbag system. If the vehicle integration unit (VIU) is disabled, it loses the ability to control the door-unlock motors. However, the EPM can independently trigger the unlock sequence based on the airbag crash signal, providing an alternate path for door unlocking. When a crash is detected, the EPM delivers a short burst of power to unlock the doors. The EPM uses ultracapacitors, also called electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC), as a temporary energy source. Compared with lithium-ion batteries, EDLC technology offers faster discharge, higher power density, better inherent safety and a longer lifespan, making it well suited for short, high-reliability events, such as powering door locks in the aftermath of a crash. Collaboration and Design Refinement Close collaboration between the Chinese OEM and Aptiv was essential to bringing the EPM concept into production. The two companies' engineering teams jointly defined how the EPM should behave in different crash scenarios, how it should interact with the existing VIU and how it could be packaged inside the passenger cabin. The compact module was designed to fit under a typical passenger seat to minimize the risk of it being damaged in a crash. To deploy the solution, the team had to balance several trade-offs. One challenge was coordinating the mechanisms' behavior when the VIU remains operational after a crash. If both the VIU and the EPM attempted to control doors at the same time, there was a risk of a short circuit or a voltage back surge. Aptiv and the OEM addressed this by introducing protection mechanisms and a delayed-unlock strategy that staggers how each system issues its commands. They later refined the architecture to improve energy efficiency, enabling more of the ultracapacitor's stored energy to be used for door unlocking without adding complexity for the OEM. Lessons for Future EV Safety Designs The EPM project showed that a dedicated redundancy solution for door unlocking can be added in a way that is both practical to integrate and meaningful for occupant safety. It also demonstrated how targeted backup modules can enhance crash-time functionality without requiring a complete rework of existing body electronics. While the true value of such a system is fully visible only in severe crash events, the absence of reported cases where doors could not be opened on the vehicle lines that now include EPMs is an encouraging sign. Both the OEM and Aptiv now see opportunities to extend the concept to additional functions that require emergency power, such as window lowering or emergency call activation, and to incorporate similar redundancy into future architectures. * Ensure that electric doors can reliably unlock after severe crashes, even when the main body controller or battery is damaged * Address emerging safety expectations and regulatory pressure in the Chinese EV market * Integrate the solution into existing platforms * Deploy the Emergency Power Module, which uses ultracapacitor-based energy storage for fast, safe and reliable backup power for existing and newly developed driving circuits * Provide redundancy for power and unlock control, with a compact module located under the passenger seat with harnesses routed inside the cabin * Codefine control strategy, protection mechanisms and validation plans through close collaboration between the OEM's and Aptiv's engineering teams * First EPM brought into series production with a leading Chinese EV OEM * Enhanced reliability of door unlocking in crash scenarios, without major changes to existing body electronics * A scalable concept that can be adapted for additional OEMs and extended to other safety-critical functions Share: Careers. 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Axera and Aptiv bring m57-powered driver assistance to europe-bound vehicles. 16 Sep, 2026, 11:43 IST Aptiv's next-generation integrated front-view ADAS solution, powered by Axera's M57 SoC, enters mass production for a leading Chinese NEV automaker. SHANGHAI, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Axera (Stock Code: 0600.HK) announced that its automotive-grade ADAS SoC M57 now powers Aptiv's new-generation integrated front-view ADAS unit. The solution has entered mass production and begun deliveries for EU-bound models from a leading Chinese new-energy vehicle manufacturer. Led by Aptiv's China team, the driver-assistance system meets the requirements for a five-star rating under the 2026 Euro NCAP protocols. This milestone demonstrates the M57's readiness for Europe's stringent market requirements and provides Chinese automakers expanding overseas with a secure, domestically developed, and independently controlled computing foundation for intelligent driving. Aptiv's new unit is designed for Chinese automakers going global. With a single M57 SoC and integrated MCU, it cuts hardware size and power use by 20% each, balancing performance and cost. It incorporates an 8MP, 120° HD camera, leading vision perception algorithms, and Wind River Kaiwu RTOS. Jointly tuned by Aptiv teams in China and abroad for European road conditions and driving habits, it meets E-NCAP 2026 five-star requirements and helps Chinese automotive brands overcome Europe's demanding market-entry requirements. Designed for global L2+ driver assistance, M57 is a Chinese automotive-grade SoC built on Axera's full-stack, proprietary core IP. Its NPU delivers up to 10 TOPS of computing performance and natively supports BEV and Transformer architectures. It integrates an MCU and ASIL-D hardware safety island, and is certified to AEC-Q100 Grade 2, ISO 26262 ASIL-B, and ISO/SAE 21434. Its thermal design power remains below 3.5 W under high-temperature operating conditions of 125°C. Compatible with both internal-combustion and new-energy vehicles, the M57 enables a single chip platform to support regulatory requirements in China and overseas markets. Its open software and hardware toolchain helps Tier 1 suppliers port solutions quickly and shorten development cycles. Li Hao, Axera's GM of Automotive Business, said: "The mass-production launch of our joint project with Aptiv in the EU market marks a milestone for Chinese automotive chips developed in China and built to serve the world. As Chinese automakers expand internationally, they need a safe, reliable, regulation-compliant homegrown computing platform. M57 was built for the global market from day one, balancing performance, power consumption, safety, and cost. Axera will continue to deepen its collaboration with Aptiv and other global Tier 1 partners, create a seamless path from chips and solutions to vehicle mass production, and keep delivering globally competitive, China-developed computing solutions for intelligent driving and help more Chinese automotive brands succeed in overseas markets." To date, M57 has secured design wins from multiple automakers and Tier 1 suppliers in China and abroad. Its products span a diverse range of applications, including integrated front-view ADAS units, integrated driving-and-parking domain controllers, and in-cabin sensing systems. As deployments accelerate across China and Europe, the M57 is helping make L2 driver assistance more widely available and accessible to drivers worldwide.

Axera's M57 automotive chip now powers Aptiv's new integrated front-view driver assistance system, which has entered mass production for a Chinese electric vehicle maker's European-bound models. The system meets Euro NCAP 2026 five-star safety requirements. Developed by Aptiv's China team, the unit uses a single M57 chip and integrated microcontroller, reducing hardware size and power consumption by 20% each. It includes an 8-megapixel camera and advanced vision algorithms tuned for European driving conditions. The M57 chip features a neural processing unit delivering 10 TOPS of computing performance whilst maintaining thermal design power below 3.5 watts at 125°C. It's certified to AEC-Q100 Grade 2 and ISO 26262 ASIL-B standards. Axera has secured design wins from multiple automakers and suppliers across China and international markets for applications including driver assistance systems and cabin sensing.