KD promotes the adoption of fiber optics in the automotive industry through new strategic partnerships

2025-12-10

KD is strengthening its role in the next generation of automotive communication networks through a series of strategic collaborations with industry leaders. The semiconductor company is driving the adoption of fiber optics in automotive applications by working closely with camera suppliers, wiring manufacturers, test and measurement specialists, and leaders in automotive test solutions. At the heart of all of these innovations is its KD7251 transceiver, designed to enable high-speed optical communications in the vehicle.

Together with Leopard Imaging and Corning, KD has developed a multi-gigabit automotive vision system based on the KD7251 transceiver. This solution brings high-speed optical connectivity to advanced driver assistance systems, facilitating the transmission of large volumes of data from cameras to the rest of the vehicle’s electronic architecture. At the same time, Hinge Automotive Technology has integrated KD’s optical transceiver into its robust gigabit-speed surround-view system, improving the vehicle’s perception of its surroundings and increasing safety for the driver and passengers.

For its part, MD ELEKTRONIK has demonstrated a fiber optic connection between two electronic control units based on the KD7251 and aligned with the IEEE 802.3cz standard. This demonstration shows that optical Ethernet for automotive applications is now ready for deployment in real-world scenarios, connecting critical vehicle nodes with high noise immunity and high bandwidth.

At the same time, the collaboration with ZF Group represents a new advance by integrating the KD7251 transceiver into ZF’s high-performance ProAI computer, where it implements IEEE 802.3cz-compliant 10GBASE AU ports for optical links of up to forty meters over multimode fiber. With this, KD demonstrates that its optical technology meets the demanding cross-computing and functional safety requirements of a world-class supplier and opens the door to software-defined vehicle architectures with standardized optical links for radar, lidar, cameras, and high-performance computing units.

In the validation and testing layer, Vector Testing Solutions has added support for IEEE 802.3cz to its portfolio, integrating the KD7251 into its new generation of test equipment, while Keysight Technologies, in collaboration with KD, has launched a specific solution for the validation of fiber optic connections in the automotive industry. By adding KD’s optical technology to test tools already familiar to many original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers, the automotive ecosystem is growing thanks to the incorporation of fiber optics in automotive validation as the primary option, leveraging the software and platforms already used by the industry and thus accelerating the arrival of optical networks in the automotive sector.

About KD

KD is a Spanish semiconductor company leading the market for high-speed data transmission through optical fiber in challenging environments. For 15 years, the company has been reinventing the way optical communications are made to make them robust and affordable enough for the automotive, consumer and industrial markets.