COVESA 2025 Highlights and What’s Ahead for 2026

William Arthur Ward, an American author, once said, “We can choose to throw stones, to stumble on them, to climb over them, or to build with them.” As we take a moment to reflect on COVESA’s past year, let us consider how COVESA has prospered despite a variety of “stones” introduced into the automotive landscape. In the spirit of “building with them,” here are some highlights from 2025.

A Year of Momentum, Milestones, and Meaningful Collaboration

COVESA’s year opened with powerful momentum, propelled by a record-setting presence at CES 2025. With more than 70 tables and booths and over 2,400 attendees, both up 10% from the previous year, the event set the tone for a year defined by growth, collaboration, and technical progress. That spirit continued as the AOSP App Framework Group delivered its first UnifiedPush code base, now integrated into the COVESA SDK and enabling new possibilities for consistent push notifications across Android Automotive implementations.

Spring brought the community together in Berlin for the All Member Meeting, where Elektrobit, Sonatus, and the Central Data Service Playground (joint activity between BMW and Renesas) received the COVESA Adopter and Contributor awards during the Showcase event. The momentum carried into June, when COVESA again surpassed attendance records at its Showcase and Reception during AutoTech Detroit, drawing more than 900 participants.

The summer marked an important strategic milestone: COVESA and ACEA formalized their collaboration with an MoU to evolve the Fleet Management Standard (FMS) toward a VSS-aligned future. This move sparked a wave of new engagement from the fleet and commercial vehicle sector, including organizations like AB Volvo (Trucks), Cummins, and Cox Automotive. At the same time, work advanced on next-generation data modeling efforts through the new VDM and S2DM projects. These initiatives expand on the data modeling role of the Vehicle Signal Specification without replacing it, as VSS adoption continues to accelerate across global OEMs, fleet, and commercial vehicle companies.

By fall, members were gathering in Ann Arbor for a brisk but energizing All Member Meeting, where representatives from 107 organizations, including 10 OEMs and 11 Tier 1 suppliers, rolled up their sleeves to tackle emerging business and technical priorities. The community also explored exciting new directions, with early activities forming around Generative AI and fresh discussions taking shape on in-vehicle payments, cybersecurity, and connected safety.

The Road to 2026: New Initiatives, Bigger Impact

Of course, nobody has a crystal ball to predict exactly what 2026 will bring. One could imagine another set of rocks hurled into the automotive ecosystem, making it a challenging year for all. But COVESA also has plenty of rocks to build with, tools, projects, and collaborations that set the stage for growth, and it aims to make 2026 another great year for its members and the industries it serves.

Looking ahead, COVESA is set to accelerate its impact across the automotive ecosystem. COVESA will broaden its involvement in Europe-funded projects and deepen connections with Japanese OEMs and suppliers. COVESA will also continue its showcase events at CES 2026, All Member Meetings, and AutoTech Detroit. Members and the industry will benefit from the continued evolution of the Vehicle Data Model (VDM) and S2DM projects, alongside growing adoption of VSS standards. Generative AI will play an increasingly important role in easing the complexity of developing automotive software and services.

In the fleet and commercial vehicle space, new members will help steer COVESA’s work toward real-world business and technical challenges. Meanwhile, fresh releases from the AOSP App Framework Group and the expansion of the Central Data Service Playground (CDSP) will ensure that new COVESA code continues to be adopted and put into action across the industry.

In summary, while 2025 has been a difficult year for many of our members, COVESA members have taken the rocks and built a strong future ahead. COVESA is a nearly 100-member strong organization that has prospered in a difficult market and continues to deliver business and technical value to an ecosystem in need of practical and industry-driven solutions. Let’s build together in the new year, and please enjoy your holiday season!