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Altia Powers the Winner of 2026 German Car of the Year (Luxury)

Posted on by Cheryl Falk
Image courtesy of Cadillac. © 2025 General Motors. Cadillac VISTIQ interior. Source: Cadillac.com

Altia's Human-Machine Interface (HMI) Graphics are the Foundation of the Award-Winning Digital Cockpit in the All-Electric Cadillac VISTIQ.

Altia, a global leader in human-machine interface (HMI) development software, proudly announces its contribution to the Cadillac VISTIQ, which has been named the 2026 German Car of the Year (GCOTY) in the Luxury category.

The all-electric, three-row Cadillac VISTIQ secured the prestigious title from a jury of 40 leading automotive journalists. The vehicle earned top marks for its visionary design, innovation, everyday usability, performance and value – key areas where Altia’s advanced, immersive digital experience excels.

Powering the Award-Winning Digital Cockpit

At the heart of VISTIQ’s lauded cabin is its sophisticated digital cockpit, powered by Altia’s production-proven HMI software.

  • Seamless Integration: Altia’s graphics drive the high-resolution displays including the immense 33-inch curved display that spans the dashboard, seamlessly integrating the digital gauge cluster and infotainment system.
  • Intuitive Control: Additional eight-inch screens located below the dash and in the rear seat provide intuitive control over features such as HVAC and ambient lighting, enhancing both driver and passenger comfort.
  • Futuristic Safety: Beyond the dash, Altia’s HMI technology also enables the augmented-reality head-up display (AR-HUD). This system overlays critical navigation and safety information directly onto the windshield, delivering a futuristic and distraction-free driving experience that impressed the GCOTY jury.

“We are honored to support Cadillac and General Motors in delivering such a bold and innovative luxury experience,” said Mike Juran, Altia CEO. “The VISTIQ is a testament to GM’s exceptional design and engineering teams, who continue to push the boundaries of electric mobility. Altia is proud to provide the HMI tools that help bring their vision to life, ensuring that the visual experience is as high-performing and luxurious as the vehicle itself.”

This award marks a historic achievement for GM, as the VISTIQ delivers the first-ever back-to-back Luxury category win for any automaker in the German Car of the Year competition—following the Cadillac LYRIQ’s win in 2025. This success strongly underscores the growing global recognition of Cadillac’s resurgence as a standard bearer of luxury and innovation.

About Altia

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final production code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process enabling clear team communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and medical devices. 

Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware. 

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Stellantis, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, Medtronic, NordicTrack and many others. 

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected]. 

Follow Altia on LinkedIn, X and YouTube. 

Past as Prologue: Inspirational Cockpits That Were Ahead of Their Time

Posted on by Jason Williamson

Today’s automotive cockpits are engineering marvels. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are successfully pushing the boundaries of connectivity, safety, and overall screen real estate, integrating massive, high-resolution displays that serve as command centers for the driver and passenger experience. These modern digital canvases provide unprecedented functionality, safety features, and access to information.

But sometimes… it’s fun to take a look back.

That’s why a recent article from SlashGear’s Ivo Gievski, 5 Cars with the Coolest Dashboards Displays, is such a fun read. It’s a fascinating look at where display technology has been—and offers great inspiration for future digital design. These examples highlight an era when designers used early digital technology not just for function, but for pure, futuristic theater.

The piece spotlights vehicles that featured instrument clusters that were truly “ahead of their time,” offering a glimpse into what was possible long before massive screens became the norm:

  • The Aston Martin Lagonda was a technological pioneer, using early digital and CRT screens that gave the luxury sedan a space-age feel.
  • The Subaru XT Turbo fully embraced the 80s aesthetic, sporting a video-game-like instrument cluster and a unique graphic that depicted the car moving upon acceleration.
  • The Vector W8, a true American supercar, pulled inspiration from fighter jets, using an information-dense LCD display that had a distinct, high-tech, cyberpunk flair.

Check out the article to see which others made the list and see snapshots of these retro dashboards.

These examples underscore that innovation in the cabin isn’t just about size—it’s about unique design and user experience.

As OEMs continue to maximize the capability of modern digital screens, these historical gems provide a wealth of design cues. With today’s powerful systems, the potential for customization is endless. Imagine the fun of utilizing that massive digital real estate to offer a suite of retrofuturism skins, allowing drivers to instantly switch their display’s look to the iconic, retro-futuristic style of the Subaru XT or beyond.

We highly recommend checking out the full SlashGear article to appreciate these iconic displays—and to get your own inspiration for the next generation of digital cockpits.

CarPlay Ultra Meets Altia: The Smart Stack for Safer Cockpits

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

As automotive OEMs race to deliver smarter, safer and more personalized in-vehicle experiences, Apple CarPlay Ultra has emerged as a compelling solution for infotainment and navigation. Its sleek interface, deep Apple ecosystem integration and punch-through UI capabilities make it a powerful tool for enhancing driver engagement. But when it comes to safety-critical functionality, regulatory compliance and brand-specific UX, CarPlay Ultra can’t go it alone.

That’s where Altia comes in.

CarPlay Ultra: A Consumer-Grade Powerhouse with Safety Caveats

Apple CarPlay Ultra offers a visually rich, user-friendly interface that seamlessly integrates with iPhones, delivering navigation, media and communication features directly to the cockpit. However, Apple has drawn clear boundaries around its role in the vehicle:

  • Punch-Through UI for Safety Visibility: CarPlay Ultra allows native vehicle alerts to override its visuals. This ensures any vehicle information can be displayed. OEMs must manage the logic and delivery of these alerts.
  • No Control Over Safety-Critical Systems: CarPlay Ultra cannot modify drive modes, disable traction control or access diagnostics. Apple explicitly recommends OEMs retain native control over these systems to meet ISO 26262 and NHTSA standards.
  • Mirrored Instrument Cluster Display: While CarPlay Ultra can show speed, fuel and ADAS data, it does so as a mirrored display; not as a source of truth. This raises concerns about fallback mechanisms if CarPlay disconnects or malfunctions.
  • Regulatory and Liability Risks: The blurred line between consumer electronics and vehicle control introduces liability challenges. Apple Maps, for instance, while powerful, may not meet ASIL-D safety requirements.

Altia: The Safety-Critical Backbone of the Digital Cockpit

Altia’s HMI software is purpose-built for automotive applications, especially where safety, compliance and brand identity are non-negotiable.

  • ASIL B-Certified for Functional Safety: Altia offers solutions to help OEMs meet ISO 26262 standards, making their solutions suitable for rendering and controlling safety-critical data like PRNDL, speed and fault alerts.
  • Native System Control and Redundancy: Altia enables OEMs to maintain full control over vehicle systems, ensuring fallback and redundancy in case of CarPlay failure. It supports firmware-level alerts and diagnostics that CarPlay Ultra cannot access.
  • Brand Identity and UX Consistency: Altia empowers OEMs to design custom, branded interfaces across all screens—instrument clusters, center stacks, HUDs—preserving visual identity while integrating with CarPlay Ultra.
  • Seamless Coexistence with CarPlay Ultra: Altia can run in parallel with CarPlay Ultra, handling safety-critical functions while Apple manages infotainment and personalization. This dual-stack architecture ensures compliance, safety and user experience without compromise.

Strategic Recommendation for OEMs

To deliver a safe, compliant and premium digital cockpit, many OEMs are investigating a hybrid architecture:

  • Apple CarPlay Ultra for infotainment, navigation and personalization.
  • Altia HMI Software for safety-critical controls, diagnostics and brand-specific UX.

This approach allows OEMs to leverage the best of both worlds: the consumer appeal of Apple’s ecosystem and the automotive production-proven reliability of Altia’s HMI platform.

Altia Announces DeepScreen GUI Code Running on QNX SDP 8.0

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

Altia today announces that Altia DeepScreen-generated graphics code is running on QNX® SDP 8.0. This combination of industry-standard solutions enables embedded software designers to develop safe, secure and reliable graphical user interfaces that deliver pixel-perfect graphics and optimized performance on a variety of production-grade hardware. 

QNX SDP 8.0 is a platform for building high-performance, safety-critical and secure embedded systems. It features a modern microkernel-based operating system designed to fully leverage advanced multi-core processors and future silicon technologies. To meet the demands of next-generation systems, it is crucial to scale workloads and take full advantage of modern hardware with increasing CPU core counts. QNX SDP 8.0 delivers near-linear scalability as cores are added, enabling customers to efficiently expand workloads across any System-on-Chip. 

“Altia is a natural fit for ever-evolving offerings from QNX, making it easier and more efficient for developers to build high-performance, safety-critical user interfaces,” stated Jason Williamson, Vice President of Marketing for Altia. “Together, we’re enabling automotive manufacturers to deliver next-generation embedded experiences—complete with sophisticated 3D graphics, multiple displays and an ultra-intuitive user experience.”    

Altia’s tools are built with safety and security in mind. They support key industry standards like ISO 26262 and ASPICE, which are essential for automotive and other safety-focused applications. Also aligning with ISO 21434, Altia helps developers build GUIs that are secure and ready for today’s connected systems. 

As systems get more complex, many teams are combining Android for rich, interactive displays alongside OSes like QNX for the parts of the system that need to be rock-solid and safe. Altia makes this easier by offering one tool to design and deploy GUI elements across both platforms. This saves time, keeps the user experience consistent and supports the achievement of safety and security requirements. 

Altia also scales well across hardware. Altia DeepScreen generates optimized code that supports a vast array of target hardware. As product requirements evolve or hardware availability shifts, Altia enables developers to reuse their existing GUI assets and retarget them to new platforms with minimal rework, preserving design integrity and accelerating time to market. 

“Altia and QNX SDP 8.0 are a powerful combination of solutions building mission-critical systems,” said Michael Hill, Vice President of Engineering at Altia. “Our customers can now leverage the performance and safety of QNX 8.0 alongside Altia’s scalable, safety-certified GUI development tools—enabling them to future-proof their GUI development programs, delivering beautiful, functional and safe user interfaces for years to come.” 

About Altia 

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final production code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process enabling clear team communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and medical devices. 

Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware. 

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Stellantis, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, Medtronic, NordicTrack and many others. 

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected]. 

Follow Altia on LinkedIn, X and YouTube. 

Germany’s Car of the Year May Surprise You. The Tech Inside Shouldn’t.

Posted on by Jason Williamson

When the German Car of the Year awards were announced in October 2024, industry watchers might have been surprised to see an American luxury brand take home the coveted Luxury category title. The Cadillac LYRIQ’s victory marked a significant milestone for General Motors’ premium brand in one of the world’s most discerning automotive markets.

But for those familiar with what powers the LYRIQ’s stunning visual experience, the win wasn’t surprising at all.

When European Standards Meet American Innovation

Germany’s automotive market doesn’t hand out awards lightly. The country that gave us the Autobahn, BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine and Mercedes-Benz’s engineering excellence has particular expectations when it comes to luxury vehicles. The LYRIQ’s triumph signals that American automotive technology has reached a new level of sophistication—one that European consumers and critics alike recognize as a winner.

At the heart of this recognition lies the vehicle’s commanding 33-inch diagonal LED display, a centerpiece that doesn’t just look impressive but delivers the kind of seamless, responsive performance that luxury buyers demand. This isn’t about flashy graphics for their own sake—it’s about creating an interface that feels as refined and dependable as the vehicle itself.

The Foundation of Excellence: Safety-Critical Software

Behind every smooth animation, every crisp rendering and every instantaneous response lies a fundamental truth that OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers understand: automotive displays aren’t consumer electronics. They’re safety-critical systems that must perform flawlessly under conditions that would cripple standard graphics solutions.

The LYRIQ’s display system, powered by Altia’s embedded graphics software, exemplifies this principle. When you’re designing for automotive applications, you can’t afford the luxury of “good enough.” Every pixel, every transition, every touch response must work perfectly whether the vehicle is sitting in a Helsinki winter at -20°F or baking in a Phoenix summer at 120°F.

This is where the distinction between consumer-grade apps and automotive-grade solutions becomes crystal clear. While consumer devices can tolerate occasional glitches or slowdowns, automotive systems demand unwavering reliability. The software managing the LYRIQ’s visual interface is subject to rigorous testing and validation just like the vehicle’s braking and steering systems—because in modern vehicles, the human-machine interface is equally critical to the driving experience.

Beautiful Graphics That Never Compromise Performance

The LYRIQ’s success in Germany demonstrates something that forward-thinking OEMs already understand: today’s luxury car buyers expect visual experiences that rival mobile phones, but with the reliability standards of mission-critical systems. This creates a unique challenge for embedded graphics tools.

Altia’s approach to this challenge focuses on three core principles that the LYRIQ exemplifies:

Visual Excellence Without Compromise: The graphics must be stunning—smooth animations, crisp fonts and responsive touch interactions that feel natural and immediate. But this visual polish cannot come at the expense of system stability or performance.

Hardware-Agnostic Performance: Different vehicle platforms, different processors, different display technologies—the graphics solution must deliver consistent excellence regardless of the underlying hardware. This flexibility allows OEMs to make platform decisions based on cost, availability and other business factors without sacrificing the user experience.

Deterministic Behavior: In safety-critical applications, unpredictability is unacceptable. The graphics system must behave consistently, with predictable memory usage, reliable real-time performance and graceful handling of edge cases.

The Competitive Advantage of Proven Technology

For OEMs evaluating their next-generation display strategies, the LYRIQ’s German recognition offers valuable insights. In a market where consumers have more luxury choices than ever, the quality of the digital experience has become a key differentiator. German buyers—known for their technical sophistication and quality expectations—validated that the LYRIQ’s interface meets the highest standards.

This validation didn’t happen by accident. It resulted from choosing embedded graphics technology that prioritizes reliability and performance over flashy features that might impress in demos but fail in real-world conditions. The LYRIQ’s success demonstrates that when you build on a foundation of safety-critical software principles, you can achieve both visual excellence and the rock-solid dependability that automotive applications demand.

Looking Forward: The New Standard for Automotive Graphics

The LYRIQ’s German Car of the Year recognition represents more than a single product success. It signals a new baseline for what luxury automotive displays can achieve. As the industry moves toward more sophisticated human-machine interfaces, software-defined vehicles and increasingly complex digital experiences, the fundamental requirements haven’t changed: safety, reliability and performance must come first.

For OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers planning their next-generation vehicles, the lesson is clear: the graphics solution you choose today will determine whether your product can compete in markets that demand both stunning visuals and unwavering reliability. In an industry where recalls cost millions and brand reputation takes years to build, that choice has never been more critical.

The Cadillac LYRIQ’s success in Germany proves that when you start with the right foundation—high-quality, safety-critical embedded graphics software—you can achieve results that surprise even the most discerning markets.

That Altia powers this award-winning experience? That shouldn’t surprise anyone who understands what it takes to succeed in automotive.

Altia Named Best Workplace by Colorado Springs Gazette for Seventh Consecutive Year

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

Altia, a leading provider of graphical user interface software solutions for production embedded displays, has once again been honored as the Best Workplace by the Colorado Springs Gazette. This marks the seventh year in a row that Altia has received this prestigious award.

The recognition is based on an independent survey of over 2,000 employees in the Colorado Springs area. Participants rated their employers on various aspects of workplace culture, including leadership, communication, innovation and diversity.

The Gazette received numerous nominations from private, public and nonprofit organizations in the Pikes Peak Region. Employees from these nominated organizations were asked to complete online surveys evaluating their organization’s health, engagement, leadership, work-life balance, training, pay, benefits and corporate social responsibility.

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this award for the seventh year in a row,” said Mike Juran, CEO and co-founder of Altia. “This accolade truly reflects the dedication and talent of our team at Altia. Their passion and collaboration are the driving forces behind our success, and we are committed to fostering an environment that supports their growth and well-being.”

Andrea Heffernan, Altia’s Director of People Operations, added: “Our culture is our greatest strength at Altia. We strive to create a workplace built on trust, respect and innovation, where everyone feels empowered to contribute their best. We also make sure to celebrate our successes and enjoy the journey together. Being recognized as one of the best workplaces in Colorado Springs is a tremendous honor for us.”

Altia ON: 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

Automotive companies around the world count on Altia to drive the graphics of their most advanced cockpit displays. Here is a shining example of the style and innovation that Altia can deliver—the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona.

EV meets muscle car in one stunning combination of throwback and high tech in the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona. This car is a testament to Dodge’s commitment to electrification as well as a showcase of their latest brand DNA.

At the heart of the Charger’s cockpit is a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, with an available upgrade to a 16-inch screen. Engineers have designed the system to allow for multiple display configurations, ensuring that drivers can tailor the information to their specific needs. This flexibility is crucial for performance driving, where quick access to critical data can make all the difference. Whether it’s performance metrics, navigation or vehicle status, the cluster provides a seamless and intuitive interface.

The instrument cluster is seamlessly integrated with the Uconnect 5 infotainment system2. This integration allows for a unified user experience, where information can be easily transferred between the central display and the instrument cluster. For instance, navigation prompts can be mirrored on the instrument cluster, allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road.

As the automotive industry continues to evolve, the Dodge Charger Daytona stands out as a beacon of innovation, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in vehicle instrumentation. It’s an exciting time to be involved in automotive design, and the designers and developers at Dodge are leading the charge.

Ready to supercharge your next HMI? Altia gets your high-performance, brand-defining GUIs on the road in cars like this and over 100 million others around the world.

Balancing Innovation with Compliance for Automotive HMI Applications

Posted on by Michael Hill

Continuous innovation in automotive HMIs is crucial for OEMs to enhance user experience, ensure safety and stay competitive. This not only differentiates their products but also drives market growth and brand loyalty. The big challenge for OEMs is navigating the balance between innovation and compliance, particularly when it comes to reliability, functional safety and cybersecurity.

Understanding the Automotive Standards

Automotive industry regulators have developed key standards to ensure the reliability, safety and security of automotive applications. OEMs must design and develop to these standards within their HMI development projects in order to deliver high-quality products that meet the stringent demands of the modern automotive industry.

While these standards each have distinct objectives, their overlap is crucial for developing reliable, safe and secure automotive applications.

Here is a brief overview of each standard.

Automotive Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (ASPICE) is a process assessment model that provides a framework for evaluating and improving the software development processes of automotive suppliers and manufacturers. ASPICE focuses on process capability and maturity, ensuring that software development practices are robust and consistent.

ISO 26262 is a standard that addresses the safety of electrical and electronic systems within road vehicles. It provides guidelines for managing the functional safety lifecycle, from concept to decommissioning. The primary goal of ISO 26262 is to ensure that safety-related systems function correctly and mitigate risks associated with system failures.

ISO 21434 is a standard that addresses the security of automotive systems against cyber threats. It provides a framework for managing cybersecurity risks throughout the vehicle lifecycle, from design and development to production and maintenance. The standard aims to protect vehicles from malicious attacks that could compromise safety, privacy and data integrity.

Integrating While Innovating

It is possible for OEMs to ensure compliance with ASPICE, ISO 26262 and ISO 21434 while fostering innovation and excellence in automotive engineering. Here are a few strategies for effectively striking that balance.

Adopt a Risk-Based Approach – Focus on identifying and mitigating the most significant risks first. This allows for innovative solutions to be developed while ensuring that critical safety and security requirements are met. Then use iterative development cycles to continuously assess and address risks, allowing for incremental innovation while maintaining compliance.

Foster a Culture of Compliance and Innovation – Regularly train employees on the importance of compliance and the latest standards. Encourage a mindset that views compliance as an enabler of innovation rather than a hindrance. Promote collaboration between compliance experts and innovation teams. This will ensure that innovative ideas are evaluated for compliance early in the development process.

Leverage Advanced Tools and Tech – Use tools that integrate ASPICE, ISO 26262 and ISO 21434 requirements into the development process. These tools can automate compliance checks and streamline development activities.

Simulation and Testing – Employ advanced simulation and testing tools to validate innovative solutions against compliance requirements. This helps identify potential issues early and reduces the risk of non-compliance.

Implement Agile Methodologies – Adopt agile methodologies that allow for flexibility and rapid iteration. Agile practices can help teams quickly adapt to new compliance requirements and incorporate innovative features.

Continuous Improvement – Emphasize continuous improvement in both compliance and innovation processes. Regularly review and refine development practices to enhance both compliance and innovation.

Collaborative Innovation – Partner with suppliers and service providers who have the training and expertise to implement these standards in your HMI projects. Not only does this ensure that a project is designed and delivered with compliance standards at the forefront, but OEM designers and developers obtain precious knowledge and know-how from those experts.

Resource Allocation – Allocate resources effectively to ensure that both innovation and compliance activities are adequately supported. This includes investing in training, tools and processes that facilitate compliance without stifling innovation. If a team needs to be scaled up to cover expertise needs, engage professionals with an excellent track record for safety, security and innovation.

Altia: Partner in Innovation and Compliance

Balancing innovation with compliance in automotive application development requires a strategic and integrated approach. With the right practices and partners in place, this is a very achievable goal.

Altia stands out as a valuable partner in this journey. With extensive, production-proven experience in automotive HMI development and industry-validated adoption of ASPICE, ISO 26262 and certified ISO 21434 expertise, Altia offers the expertise and tools necessary to seamlessly integrate compliance into automotive HMI innovation processes. By partnering with Altia, OEMs can ensure their HMI projects not only meet regulatory requirements but also push the boundaries of what is possible in automotive technology.

Let Altia help you strike the perfect balance between innovation and compliance, ensuring your products are both cutting-edge and reliable. Get in touch today.

Figma Plugin is Now Freely Available for Altia GUI Software Users

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

Altia announces the release of Altia Exporter for Figma. This new plugin gives designers the power to get their Figma graphics to embedded hardware easily and with the lowest possible memory requirements. Available today on the Figma community, current users of Altia Design 13.4 and above can now use the Altia Exporter at no extra cost.

This new product further extends Altia’s flexibility to leverage artwork from industry-leading tools to include Figma. With Altia Exporter for Figma, designers save time and effort because they can import Figma assets to the Altia toolchain and begin designing their GUI without any need to rebuild, rename or restructure the original components. Leveraging Altia’s powerful features like Stamp Object, developers can easily optimize their Figma designs for embedded hardware—saving precious memory while delivering best performance on chip.

“Companies around the world count on Altia to deliver highly efficient, production-ready code that is true to their artists’ concepts. With the new Altia Exporter for Figma, we continue to empower designers to create in the tools that they want while giving developers the power to select the embedded hardware they want and get the best looking, best performing UI and UX to market,” stated Mike Juran, Altia CEO.

The Altia Exporter for Figma is available today at no cost to Altia GUI software users (version 13.4 and above) on the Figma Community. For more information or to request a demo of this new product, visit altia.com/get-started or email [email protected].

About Altia

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final production code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process enabling clear team communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and medical devices.

Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware.

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Stellantis, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Renault, Magneti Marelli, Nippon Seiki, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, NordicTrack and many others.

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected].

RWTH Aachen University Leverages Altia for ADAS, Autonomous and Software-Defined Vehicle HMI Research

Posted on by Cheryl Falk

Altia proudly announces our collaboration with the Institute for Automotive Engineering of RWTH Aachen University. The Aachen team is using Altia’s graphical user interface software for the development and deployment of a remote interaction automotive cockpit concept with an A-pillar-to-A-pillar screen.

Cockpit screens are increasing in size from generation to generation. As this evolution takes place, new concepts—like the black background head-up display featured by Continental Automotive at IAA Mobility 2023—are moving the automotive display surfaces further away from the driver and passenger. To interact with the growing displays the Aachen researchers hypothesize that an alternative to direct touch, which is currently the main interaction modality in today’s vehicles, is required for future vehicle concepts. This will be especially true for autonomous vehicles according to SAE L4, at which level the vehicle takes over responsibility and the human can turn to entertaining and distracting functions. The research team therefore is investigating remote interaction as one promising solution for automotive displays of the future.

This project, led by Research Associates Thomas Lennartz, Tobias Oetermann and Lena Wirtz, aims to develop an optimal remote interaction concept. To do so, the team is taking a close look at the drivers in their study, attempting to answer these questions.

  • How distracting is their remote interaction concept?
  • Is their remote interaction model intuitive or does it require driver and passenger training?
  • What alternatives would drivers and passengers prefer for a remote interaction concept?

Altia’s HMI development software enables the RWTH Aachen University research team to apply a human-centered design process for developing their HMI concepts—and do so with advanced graphics capabilities. To this end, a project designed in rapid prototyping software was translated into Altia Design and deployed to target hardware. Altia’s model-based development process gives developers the capability to create user interfaces with assets from popular graphics software packages, perform user testing with their GUIs then quickly tweak to achieve a user experience that is safe, simple and user-focused.

“The Institute for Automotive Engineering of RWTH Aachen University is one of Europe’s leading automotive engineering institutions—collaborating with leading automotive companies and research institutes, such as BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Bosch, Fraunhofer and others. This is the university that graduates the men and women who will lead innovation at German automotive OEMs for years to come,” stated Armin Koelker, Altia Europe GmbH Sales Director EMEA. “Altia is proud to contribute our technology to this important research, while offering experience with our software for future German automotive innovators.”

“The RWTH Aachen University research team came up to speed quickly and achieved an impressive fully integrated cockpit in a short time. This speaks to the user-friendliness of Altia’s GUI development software and the genius of the members of the research team,” praised Philipp Michel, Senior Solutions Architect for Altia Europe GmbH. “We are honored and excited to continue to collaborate with them.”

About Altia

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final product code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process for clear communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and healthcare monitors. Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware.

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Stellantis, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Renault, Magneti Marelli, Nippon Seiki, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, NordicTrack and many others.

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected].

Follow Altia on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

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