The Role of Digital Twins in Future Mobility Solutions

As active safety systems become standard in automotive technology, technological innovation is reshaping modern mobility. Yet, significant barriers remain to improving the safety and efficiency of intelligent, connected mobility solutions. Digital twins represent one of the most promising technologies to overcome these challenges and shape the future of transportation.

In essence, digital twins are virtual replicas of physical objects or processes. For example, in the context of active safety systems, a digital twin allows us to simulate a vehicle, the environment it navigates, and the actions performed in its journey, in order to predict and optimize vehicle performance.

While virtual models and simulations have long been used in vehicle design and optimization, the combination of digital twins with advancements in high-speed connectivity, real-time data collection, and artificial intelligence (AI) has unlocked an array of new applications.

Current active safety features rely on reactive local sensors and lack the integration of real-time data necessary for continuous improvement and effective response to unforeseen events. At Magna, we address this limitation by leveraging AI-powered digital twins to provide vehicles with what we call collective perception. This intelligent process shares real-time sensor information with cloud infrastructure, creating digital twins of environments that enhance active safety features.