Rewiring the automotive world

Hybrid sensors are quietly revolutionising automotive design, reshaping vehicles, factories, and supply chains as the industry races toward electrification and smarter mobility.

- BY: Pranav Vadehra

In the race toward electrification, autonomy, and smarter mobility, a revolution is unfolding beneath the surface – in the sensors. Hybrid sensors are the unsung heroes of this quiet transformation – fusing multiple sensing modalities into single, intelligent modules that are reshaping how vehicles are built, driven, and experienced.

Smarter, smaller, stronger

Hybrid sensors combine pressure, temperature, current, even vision and motion sensing into compact packages. Imagine a tire sensor that not only measures pressure but also temperature, or a seat module that detects both occupant presence and provides heating.

This fusion is not simply clever engineering – it is transformative in the world of automotive engineering.

By reducing part counts by up to 70 per cent, automakers are streamlining wiring harnesses, cutting vehicle weight, and slashing assembly time. That means faster production, fewer errors, and better fuel economy or EV range. At a time where every little advantage counts, hybrid sensors are delivering real-world wins for the auto industry.

Powering the electric future

Electric vehicles (EVs\HEVs) are particularly sensor-hungry. Managing functions like battery health, torque distribution, and regenerative braking requires a constant flow of precise data.

A new breed of hybrid current-voltage ICs – such as those from Allegro MicroSystems – that monitor energy flow with pinpoint accuracy while incorporating diagnostics and safety features. Or LEMs new sensor for enhanced battery management systems (BMS). These chips do not just measure - they analyse data and think.

Kumar Prasad Telikepalli, Co-Founder & Group CTO, Matter, believes, “By providing multiple methods to measure the same parameter, we ensure redundancy in the case of sensor failure, covering scenarios that single-sensor systems often miss.”