AI accelerating vehicle development
Posted on 16 February, 2026
Nissan is moving faster by pairing its engineers with AI. The company's European R&D hub, Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, is working with US-based Sonatus to speed up vehicle development and reduce test overhead.
What's new
NTCE is piloting Sonatus' Collector AI and AI Technician to analyze real-time and historical vehicle data. The system draws from sensors, electronic control units (ECUs), and on-board diagnostics to spot anomalies, potential faults, and inefficiencies automatically.
Early trials point to meaningful wins: investigation time cut from two weeks to two days, with less reliance on physical test vehicles. Faster signal-to-insight means more issues found earlier, fewer loop-backs, and tighter feedback into software and hardware teams.
Why it matters for IT and development teams
- Data-first engineering: Treat every prototype as a data source. Build repeatable pipelines for ingest, transform, label, and alerting-then automate the boring parts.
- Observability for vehicles: Bring software observability practices (traces, metrics, events, logs) to automotive telemetry. The same thinking applies-just different buses and constraints.
- ML meets rules: Blend rule-based triggers with learned anomaly detection. Start simple, iterate fast, and promote what works into standard test packs.
- Shorter loops: When engineers get precise alerts and context, decisions move quicker. That reduces test stand time and increases coverage without endless road miles.
- Safety and reliability: Proactive fault detection from fleet-like data improves test depth before customer delivery.
How the stack plays out
Data flows in from sensors, ECUs, and OBD. Signals are sampled, filtered, and enriched with vehicle state. AI models and rules flag outliers and failure patterns, then push alerts with context to engineers. Over time, the best detectors get standardized into test suites for upcoming programs.
With this approach, NTCE can scale testing across configurations and conditions without shipping a car for every question. The result: better use of lab time, quicker root-cause analysis, and tighter alignment between software updates and hardware realities.
What Nissan and Sonatus are saying
David Moss, senior vice-president, research and development, Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania: "Our collaboration with Sonatus is a clear demonstration of Nissan's commitment to innovation and adaptability.
"The role of AI is clear, to act as a tool for our engineers and not a direct replacement. Using their years of expertise and the AI tool, our engineers will be able to investigate and act quickly on ensuring our products and technologies are ready for customers sooner with zero compromise on quality.
"Working together will allow us to deliver an enhanced customer experience and maintain competitiveness in a rapidly evolving market".
Alexandre Corjon, senior vice-president and technical fellow for Sonatus: "By enabling smarter data collection and accelerating digital development workflows, Sonatus is enabling teams to deliver complex systems with greater speed and precision.
"NTCE is demonstrating how forward-thinking engineering can redefine vehicle development and set a new benchmark for automotive innovation."
Impact on upcoming models
Nissan signals that AI-driven testing will become a core part of its validation program. Expect smart testing approaches to support the development of future models, including the next Nissan Leaf and Juke.
Practical takeaways for your engineering org
- Instrument once, configure often: Build dynamic data collection that you can reconfigure over-the-air for new hypotheses.
- Version everything: Detectors, datasets, label schemas, and alert rules-so you can reproduce issues and compare runs.
- Close the loop: Pipe alerts into issue trackers with signal snapshots and vehicle context to cut triage time.
- Start with high-value signals: Prioritize sensors tied to safety, performance, and warranty cost drivers.
- Mind privacy and security: Treat telemetry with the same rigor as PII and secure your OTA paths end-to-end.
Learn more
- Sonatus - company site and platform overview.
- On-board diagnostics (OBD) - background on the diagnostic interface used across vehicles.
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