At Embedded World 2025, Renesas and Altium introduced Renesas 365, a cloud-based platform designed to unify silicon, software, and hardware development. Following Renesas’ acquisition of Altium, this solution aims to eliminate inefficiencies by providing a shared digital environment where engineers collaborate in real time. The platform integrates AI-assisted design tools, lifecycle management capabilities, and software-defined silicon workflows, optimizing product development from concept to deployment. More details can be found at [renesas.com](https://www.renesas.com/renesas365).
Renesas 365 eliminates the traditional silos in embedded system development by offering a fully integrated cloud-based ecosystem. Instead of using separate, incompatible design tools, hardware engineers, firmware developers, and system architects can work within a persistent, synchronized platform. The system features an interactive block diagram editor, which goes beyond static visualization by allowing direct integration with hardware and software stacks. This editor dynamically links design elements, ensuring changes are automatically reflected across the development pipeline.
A highlight of the Embedded World demonstration was an AI-driven plotter that performed real-time facial recognition and image rendering, showcasing how AI models can be integrated into embedded systems. The demo illustrated Renesas 365’s ability to evaluate AI models in a controlled cloud environment, optimizing the tradeoff between recognition accuracy and processing speed. Engineers can compare models, simulate real-world constraints, and deploy updates across connected devices without disrupting operations.
The Renesas 365 development environment streamlines every stage of product design, from selecting application-ready silicon to managing deployed devices in the field. Engineers can rapidly access Renesas’ extensive IP library, pre-validated hardware configurations, and reference designs, ensuring compatibility and compliance with software-defined products. The platform’s real-time co-design capabilities allow seamless collaboration between PCB design, firmware, and embedded software development, reducing iteration cycles and minimizing integration errors.
Lifecycle management is another core feature, enabling over-the-air firmware updates, AI model optimizations, and remote diagnostics. This functionality is critical for long-term IoT and industrial deployments, where security patches, performance updates, and compliance changes must be applied efficiently across large device fleets. With persistent digital traceability, engineers can track every modification, ensuring compliance with industry standards and facilitating root-cause analysis for debugging hardware and software interactions.
Renesas 365 also enhances collaboration by providing secure access controls, allowing external teams and vendors to contribute to projects while maintaining IP protection and data integrity. Unlike traditional methods that rely on email exchanges or version-controlled file sharing, the platform centralizes all design elements into a unified, cloud-based workspace, ensuring seamless communication between stakeholders. A critical feature is cross-probing, where engineers can trace software execution directly to PCB layouts and hardware components, improving debugging efficiency and design accuracy.
AI-driven design automation plays a pivotal role in Renesas 365, offering features such as AI-assisted PCB layout optimization, real-time constraint checking, and automated code generation. These capabilities significantly reduce manual effort while ensuring that designs adhere to electrical, thermal, and mechanical constraints. The AI tools can also recommend optimal silicon selections, generate pre-configured firmware templates, and assist in power efficiency tuning for battery-operated systems.
The platform is particularly well-suited for industries demanding high-reliability embedded systems, including automotive, industrial automation, aerospace, and edge AI computing. With integrated functional safety features, compliance tracking, and scalable security architectures, Renesas 365 enables the deployment of next-generation electronics with confidence in long-term stability and regulatory adherence.
Currently in its pre-release phase, Renesas 365 is scheduled for a broader launch in early 2026. Engineers and developers can sign up for the beta program, gaining early access to its cloud-based development suite and AI-powered design tools. By redefining how embedded systems are conceived, developed, and maintained, Renesas 365 offers a scalable, secure, and AI-driven approach to modern electronics design, accelerating innovation in the embedded industry.
