Renault Group will build its New Trafic E-Tech Electric on a software-defined vehicle (SDV) architecture — the first commercial vehicle the French carmaker has produced in series using the approach — with LG Electronics supplying the integrated cockpit solution.

The South Korean electronics group won the cockpit program, combining the instrument cluster and infotainment unit under a single control framework. LG said the arrangement could let manufacturers reduce costs by requiring fewer components and a leaner system layout than the conventional split-architecture approach used in most light-commercial vehicles today.

What does the cockpit solution combine?

The package merges two functions that historically sit on separate electronic control units (ECUs). The instrument cluster handles driver-facing readouts — speed, engine revolutions per minute (RPM) and warning indicators — while the infotainment unit covers navigation and media playback.

LG said the consolidation lets driving-related and entertainment content appear with greater consistency across the vehicle's screens, a result it attributed to tighter software-level integration rather than shared hardware. The product also draws on software and user-interface expertise LG has picked up through its mobile, television and home appliance businesses.

Why move to an SDV layout now?

In conventional vehicles, control duties are split among dozens of ECUs, each assigned to a discrete domain — cockpit, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), powertrain and the rest. SDVs replace that patchwork with a high-performance computing platform and a centralised software stack capable of running several functions in parallel.

LG cited over-the-air (OTA) updates as a defining SDV benefit, allowing new features and improvements to existing ones to reach vehicles already in customer hands without a dealer visit. The capability has become a competitive baseline in passenger-car SDVs and is now migrating into light-commercial programs, where uptime and predictable running costs matter as much as feature pace.

LG framed the cost reduction around component count and system layout, not specific savings figures. Eliminating separate ECUs for the cluster and infotainment reduces wiring and packaging complexity, a structural benefit that should scale with volume.

How long have LG and Renault been working together?

Renault Group has named LG an outstanding supplier three times — in 2014, 2017 and 2020. In 2021, the pair jointly developed an Android-based automotive infotainment system. LG also delivered the cockpit solution for Renault's first production SDV, a passenger-car program that preceded the New Trafic E-Tech Electric.

Eun Seok-hyun, president of LG Vehicle Solution Company, said: "Building on our close collaboration with Renault Group and other global automakers, we will continue to advance the core technologies and solutions needed to support the mobility industry's transition to SDVs."

What comes next for LG's vehicle business?

LG said it plans to broaden cooperation with major carmakers in North America, Asia and other key markets, using the Renault work as a reference design. The New Trafic award extends LG's reach from passenger-car cockpits into the commercial-vehicle segment, where SDV architectures have arrived several years after their debut in passenger cars.

The first volume-production data from Renault's commercial SDV line, the launch cadence of the New Trafic E-Tech Electric, and any follow-on cockpit awards from the same architecture at other Renault Group brands are the milestones to watch next. Suppliers will also be watching whether LG's consumer-electronics playbook — mobile, TV, home appliances — translates into a pricing advantage on the commercial-vehicle side.