Software Defined Vehicles
Interview with Hanno Wolff, Synopsys
“Chiplet-based designs enable scalability and performance”
As SDV development accelerates worldwide, regional strategies diverge sharply. Hanno Wolff from Synopsys explains how global ecosystems, semiconductor innovation, and early co-design shape the next generation of automotive computing.
Hanno Wolff is Executive Director Business Development Automotive at Synopsys, where he drives strategic collaboration between semiconductor engineering and the automotive sector. Before joining Synopsys, he held key leadership roles at Volkswagen and Cariad, including responsibility for the global MEB platform and its software and architecture governance.
With decades of experience at the intersection of vehicle architectures, electrification, and software transformation, Wolf brings a rare dual perspective on both OEM realities and semiconductor dynamics. As moderator at the Automotive Computing Conference 2025, he guided the audience through the event. After the conference, we spoke with him in detail about global SDV trends and semiconductor–automotive integration.
ADT: The automotive industry is becoming a global software ecosystem, with different regions moving at very different speeds. From your perspective, how do Europe, China, and the USA currently differ in their approach to the SDV?
The global shift toward software-defined vehicles is unfolding at different speeds across regions. Europe’s strong engineering heritage and regulatory rigor shape progress, but traditional OEM structures can slow adoption. Collaboration through ecosystems and standardized platforms is the preferred path, though speed remains a concern. China, with its vertically integrated EV players and strong government support, is moving fastest. Companies embrace software-first strategies and agile development cycles, accelerating innovation. The United States combine deep tech expertise and a vibrant startup ecosystem with legacy OEMs, creating a mixed landscape in which Silicon Valley drives rapid innovation while Detroit focuses on adapting established processes. Across all regions, AI is viewed as a critical enabler to overcome complexity and accelerate SDV development.
At the ACC 2025, you represented Synopsys, a key enabler in chip design and verification. How do you see semiconductor design tools evolving to meet the unique demands of automotive-grade reliability and AI-centric architectures?
Automotive-grade reliability and AI-centric architectures require a new generation of design tools that go beyond traditional EDA. At Synopsys, we see increasing demand for integrated solutions that combine functional safety, security, and AI acceleration. Our EDA tools leverage AI algorithms to automate and optimize traditionally manual design tasks such as floorplanning, placement, and routing. This accelerates design cycles and improves power, performance, and area. Over the past two years, we have achieved significant reductions in power consumption and measurable improvements in PPA through AI-supported EDA workflows. AI-powered simulation and testing tools further enhance reliability by predicting failures and identifying flaws more effectively than traditional methods. In addition, our tools support scalable chip architectures, enabling modular designs that accommodate evolving workloads—essential for powering AI systems in future autonomous vehicles.
Synopsys plays a bridging role between the semiconductor and automotive worlds. What are the most promising areas for collaboration that could accelerate SDV adoption across markets?
The most promising collaboration areas lie in early-stage co-design between chipmakers and OEMs, particularly for zonal architectures and centralized compute platforms. Chiplet-based designs enable scalability and performance while reducing time-to-market. Integrated IP and software stacks help align verification, IP, and software with automotive requirements, accelerating SDV adoption. Advanced verification technologies, including formal methods and AI-driven coverage, support automotive-grade reliability for increasingly complex systems. Synopsys is uniquely positioned as a silicon-to-system partner, bridging semiconductor innovation with automotive needs to help OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers deliver safe, secure, and high-performance software-defined vehicles globally.
