FEV and Nature Architects use AI to cut vehicle structure weight by up to 51% while maintaining crash safety

FEV and Nature Architects team up to create AI-supported vehicle structures

Aachen/Tokyo - Engineering specialist FEV and Japanese technology company Nature Architects (NA) have entered a strategic collaboration to develop new vehicle structures using AI-driven design methods. The focus: lightweight construction, functional performance, and faster development cycles without compromising safety.

FEV contributes deep vehicle development expertise, platform data, and benchmark models. Nature Architects brings a proprietary design platform that applies AI-supported form finding, metamaterials, and origami engineering.

Why it matters for engineering and product teams

• Proven safety with less mass: An initial side-impact project achieved up to 51% weight reduction in the sill reinforcement while maintaining energy absorption.
• Validated results: The approach was confirmed in the full vehicle model, not just subcomponent simulations.
• Broader scope: The method targets deformation, vibration, acoustics, heat transfer, and flow in one consistent workflow.
• Faster loops, lower costs: AI-guided exploration shortens iteration time and opens measurable cost-saving potential.

How the approach works (in brief)

FEV supplies clean platform data and trusted benchmarks. Nature Architects' platform explores structural concepts beyond typical human bias using AI-guided form finding combined with metamaterials and origami-inspired geometries.

The result is a design space that yields structures optimized for energy absorption, stiffness, and other physics, then pushed through system-level validation.

Early results

The joint team optimized a side impact structure and cut sill reinforcement weight by up to 51% while preserving crash energy absorption and passenger safety. The team then validated the outcome at the vehicle level, confirming real integration viability, not just theoretical gains.

What the leaders say

"With Nature Architects, we gain a partner whose unique design platform ideally complements our portfolio," said Michael Hog, Group Vice President Vehicle at FEV. "Together, we are creating the basis for a completely new, functionally and weight-optimized component design for our customers, regardless of whether the underlying requirement comes from the areas of deformation, vibration, acoustics, heat transfer, or flow."

"Our platform allows us to develop new structural concepts beyond human intuition," says Tomoya Hayashi, Project Manager at Nature Architects. "Combined with FEV's engineering expertise, this creates a space for innovation with high customer value."

Action items for IT, Engineering, and Comms teams

• IT/Engineering: Prepare CAE pipelines for higher design throughput (data versioning, model lineage, and automated validation gates).
• IT: Set up MLOps-style workflows for design generation and simulation orchestration; ensure governed access to benchmark data.
• Engineering: Define physics-driven KPIs (energy absorption, stiffness, modal targets, thermal/flow limits) upfront to guide AI search.
• PR/Comms: Lead with safety and validation proof points, quantify weight and time-to-market gains, and spotlight sustainability impacts.

Context and further reading

Press release: FEV x Nature Architects collaboration

Background on materials science: Metamaterials

Level up team capability

If you're aligning product and communications teams around practical AI methods, browse role-specific learning paths: AI courses by job

Media contact

Marius Strasdat | T +49 241 5689-6452 | strasdat@fev.com