Unreal Engine · Video summary
Virtual Twin Onboard | Unreal Fest Stockholm 2025
Transforming software-defined vehicles by optimizing 3D models for lightweight HMIs and integrating systems engineering with immersive virtual twins for faster development.
Watch on YouTube ↗Key takeaways
- 💡The automotive industry is shifting towards software-defined vehicles, mirroring the smartphone model where software, not hardware, drives functionality and user experience throughout the vehicle's lifecycle.00:18
- 🎯Creating commercial virtual twins from engineering data involves optimizing, enriching, and stripping IP to make data suitable for visualization and experience purposes, distinct from raw engineering data.03:19
- 🚀The ACCESS API enables real-time, on-device model optimization for HMIs, drastically reducing data sourcing times and shifting pixel creation to the edge or the device itself, moving away from cloud-based rendering for HMI.11:03
- 💻Explore ACCESS API capabilities for optimizing and delivering lightweight 3D models for your HMI development workflows.11:16
- 🔧Optimizing 3D models for lightweight HMIs requires reducing gigabytes of data down to hundreds of megabytes by removing unnecessary detail and irrelevant data for the specific HMI context, often using tags to define requirements.17:14
- 🤝Bridging systems engineering, HMI development (Unreal), and engineering data through immersive virtual twins allows for validation of ergonomics and system behavior in context, accelerating the development cycle.29:02
Chapters
- 0:01🎯 Introduction and Topic Overview
- 0:44🎯 What is a Software-Defined Vehicle
- 1:52🎯 Software First Principles and HMI
- 2:20🎯 Team Introduction and Company Background
- 4:12🎯 Showcasing 3D Excite Solutions
- 7:51🎯 Power of Adaptive Video Content
- 8:50🎯 HMI Model Optimization Workflow
- 10:20🎯 Tools and APIs for Data Interaction
- 14:23🎯 On-Device Data and Model Optimization
- 28:56🎯 Virtual Twin in Systems Engineering
- 35:17🎯 Building an HMI System in Unreal
- 38:02🎯 Using Pixel Streaming for Remote HMI Validation
- 40:40🎯 Developing a Holistic Virtual Twin
- 42:20🎯 Future Collaborative Work and Challenges
- 42:34🎯 Closing Remarks and Contact
The digest
This presentation explores how software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are transforming automotive development, particularly through the design and validation of human-machine interfaces (HMIs). It focuses on leveraging virtual twins—digital vehicle replicas enhanced with real-time software and behavioral modeling—to optimize interactions and shorten development cycles. Built on Unreal Engine technology, the talk presents practical tools, workflows, and case studies designed for automotive and aerospace professionals aiming to create cutting-edge, lightweight, and interactive HMIs integrated tightly with engineering data and system behaviors.
High Level Overview
The automotive industry is rapidly shifting towards software-defined vehicles, where software—not hardware—drives vehicle capabilities throughout its lifecycle. This transformation demands faster development times, cutting typical cycles from five years to two and a half. Central to this evolution are HMIs, which serve as user touchpoints for software interaction within vehicles. This briefing details two key projects from 3D Excite that support automotive clients in developing optimized, scalable HMIs using virtual twins in Unreal Engine. These projects focus on model optimization for real-time lightweight rendering and holistic system integration and validation involving virtual twins, system engineering models, and immersive technologies.
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- Structured Deep Dive
- Software-Defined Vehicles: The Smartphone on Wheels Analogy (0:40–2:00)
- 3D Excite’s Role and Virtual Twin Ecosystem (2:50–6:00)
- Optimizing Virtual Twins for HMI Deployment (8:20–18:00)
- API-Driven Access to Optimized Models (11:00–20:00)
- Real-Time HMI Demonstration on Commodity Hardware (22:00–26:00)
- Model-Based Systems Engineering Integration (29:50–35:00)
- Coupling Systems Engineering Models with Unreal-Based HMI (35:00–40:30)
- Pixel Streaming & Immersive VR Validation (38:00–42:00)
- Key Frameworks and Models
- Software-Defined Vehicle Virtual Twin Pipeline
- Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for Software-Defined Vehicles
- Practical Implications & Takeaways
- Action-Oriented Summary
