Siemens Brings Pre-Silicon Vehicle Labs to Europe

Siemens debuts its PAVE360 Automotive digital twin platform in Europe, enabling pre-silicon software-defined vehicle development

21 Dec 2025

Siemens has introduced its PAVE360 Automotive platform to European developers for the first time at Embedded World 2026 in Nuremberg, marking the regional debut of its system-level digital twin environment for software-defined vehicles.

The platform reached general availability in February after being unveiled in December 2025. Siemens describes it as a pre-integrated digital twin blueprint designed to allow engineering teams to develop and test vehicle software before physical hardware is available.

At the centre of the platform is a virtual environment that enables full-system software testing from the beginning of a development programme. In conventional automotive projects, constructing a comparable digital twin from individual components can take up to two years. Siemens says its system can establish a working environment in about one hour, allowing developers to begin writing production software immediately.

The platform incorporates Arm’s Zena Compute Subsystems, giving developers access to virtual models of next-generation automotive processors before silicon is manufactured. Siemens says this pre-silicon capability can shorten software development timelines by as much as two years.

The approach is particularly relevant for safety-critical functions such as advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving, where software validation traditionally depends on the availability of specialised hardware.

At the Nuremberg event, automotive software supplier Elektrobit is demonstrating its in-vehicle software running simultaneously on the PAVE360 virtual platform and Android-based cockpit hardware at the Siemens booth. The demonstration aims to show how carmakers can start software development earlier in the vehicle design cycle.

Other partners, including SiliconAuto, are presenting environments built on PAVE360 that allow hardware and software teams to model and validate automotive systems entirely in a virtual setting.

The shift reflects a broader change in the industry as manufacturers move towards software-defined vehicle architectures. Cloud-based development environments allow teams working on driver assistance, autonomous driving and infotainment systems to run parallel simulations and identify system interactions earlier in the design process.

Industry groups argue that such tools could help narrow the gap between research and production software as European carmakers compete with technology-focused rivals in the US and Asia.