Valeo and Anritsu Add eCall to Virtual Connected-Car Testing
Valeo and Anritsu have expanded a virtual connected-vehicle testing platform to include emergency-call scenarios. The companies say the system can recreate cellular handoffs and multi-vehicle communications without putting a development car on a public road for every test.
The updated platform is being shown during the 39th 5G Automotive Association meeting in New Delhi, India, from October 26–29, 2026. It combines Valeo’s virtualized electronic-control-unit environment with Anritsu’s software-in-the-loop cellular network simulator.
This is a supplier demonstration rather than a production-vehicle launch. Valeo and Anritsu have not identified an automaker that will use the expanded system, named a vehicle program, or published independent evidence showing that it reduces crashes or emergency-response time.
What the digital twin is designed to test
Modern vehicles depend on cellular connections for functions that can include over-the-air software updates, cloud services, emergency calls and communications between vehicles and network infrastructure. Development teams have to check those functions across different carriers, coverage conditions, network handoffs and vehicle states.
Valeo and Anritsu describe their approach as a digital twin: a controlled virtual counterpart of the vehicle’s telematics electronics and the cellular environment around it. Anritsu’s simulator reproduces network conditions while Valeo’s virtual platform represents the in-vehicle electronic control unit. The setup can run locally or in the cloud.
The companies say the system can model a vehicle moving between mobile-network operators, as well as vehicle-to-network and vehicle-to-everything scenarios involving more than one vehicle. The important practical benefit is repeatability. Engineers can recreate the same difficult connection failure many times, change the software, and run the scenario again without waiting for identical road and network conditions.
Emergency-call testing is the new element
Valeo and Anritsu first demonstrated their joint virtual-validation work at Mobile World Congress in March 2026. The October update adds new use cases, including eCall, the automated emergency-calling function used in connected vehicles.
Emergency calling is a demanding test case because the connection has to work when a serious crash may have damaged the vehicle or changed its network conditions. A virtual lab can expose the software to dropped coverage, carrier transitions and unusual timing combinations before the system reaches physical validation.
Neither company says the tool replaces proving-ground or on-road testing. Valeo’s announcement says it can reduce reliance on physical track work. That distinction matters: simulation can find software and connectivity edge cases earlier, but a finished vehicle still needs verification with its production hardware, antennas, crash sensors and network services.
Why automakers are virtualizing more development
A software-defined vehicle may receive new functions long after it leaves the factory. Testing every combination only with complete prototype cars becomes expensive and difficult to repeat, particularly when the behavior depends on external mobile networks.
Virtual testing can move some fault-finding earlier in the development cycle, when correcting a problem generally requires less time and fewer physical prototypes. It can also run large numbers of controlled cases automatically. The tradeoff is that the simulation is only as useful as the models and real-world data behind it.
The announcement does not disclose pricing, test capacity, supported cellular bands or a commercial rollout schedule. Those details—and evidence from an actual vehicle program—will determine whether the platform becomes a widely used engineering tool or remains a technology showcase.
The New Delhi demonstration
The 5G Automotive Association confirms that its 39th meeting week runs October 26–29 in New Delhi. The organization is also holding a conference and live-technology demonstration program on October 29 focused on connected mobility, road safety and C-V2X deployment.
Chiefs Review recently covered LG’s on-road connected-safety demonstrations in South Korea. The Valeo-Anritsu project addresses a different stage of the process: recreating network conditions in a virtual laboratory before—or alongside—physical vehicle testing.
Sources
- Valeo: digital-twin validation solution with Anritsu, published October 26, 2026
- 5GAA: New Delhi conference and live technology demonstrations, accessed October 26, 2026
Featured image: Official Valeo and Anritsu promotional illustration for the October 26 digital-twin announcement. It is a conceptual graphic, not a photograph of a production vehicle or completed test installation. Credit: Valeo/Anritsu; source linked above.