HARMAN, the automotive technology leader and subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., today announced that HARMAN Ready Aware has been named “Driver Safety Solution of the Year” by the 2026 AutoTech Breakthrough Awards.

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Ready Aware is designed to deliver near real-time traffic alerts that help drivers make more informed decisions in challenging conditions and complex environments, where changing traffic patterns, signal timing, limited visibility and road hazards can make it difficult to anticipate what comes next.

“HARMAN Ready Aware is redefining vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. Almost a quarter of U.S. traffic deaths and roughly half of injuries are related to intersections. Cameras and sensors can be limited by physical occlusions and, on their own, may not have access to information about upcoming signal changes or other traffic conditions,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AutoTech Breakthrough. “Ready Aware’s software-defined model connects the intelligence already present in cities and connected vehicles, then delivers it to the driver as a timely, contextual alert. Ready Aware turns infrastructure data, vehicle telemetry and cloud analytics into actionable driver awareness—available today, scalable tomorrow, and quickly deployable.”

Making Safety More Proactive

Ready Aware extends situational awareness beyond the driver’s line of sight through a vehicle-to-network (V2N) solution that combines vehicle, road, traffic, weather and infrastructure data to deliver timely, contextual in-vehicle alerts. The end-to-end V2N SaaS solution provides early warnings about road, traffic and weather conditions, while helping automakers support relevant Euro NCAP assessment criteria. It offers more than 15 connected safety use cases across road hazards, vehicle hazards and traffic light information.

Designed to complement existing ADAS, navigation and connected services, Ready Aware enables non-line-of-sight situational awareness through pre-integrated data APIs without the need for additional sensors or connectivity hardware. Automakers can leverage existing 4G/5G investments and deploy the cloud instance in their preferred OEM cloud environment. Flexible client-to-cloud or cloud-to-cloud integration supports paid connected experiences while allowing OEMs to retain monetization control.

Turning Road Intelligence into Actionable Alerts

At the core of Ready Aware is a cloud analytics and scoring layer that fuses vehicle, infrastructure and third-party feeds with digital twins to create a near real-time view of the driving environment. The Ready Aware Confidence Engine reduces noise and false positives, assigns confidence scores to events, and helps prioritize the most relevant alerts to the vehicle while minimizing distraction and alert fatigue.

Drivers can receive alerts for disabled vehicles, emergency hard braking ahead, slippery roads, lane closures, traffic signal changes and Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory. The solution also supports vehicle-to-network-to-vehicle warnings, helping drivers navigate intersections and other complex situations with greater confidence.

Because Ready Aware works with existing vehicle connectivity hardware and cloud infrastructure, automakers can deploy new connected safety features throughout a vehicle’s life without requiring hardware upgrades. Its cloud-native flexibility supports evolving industry requirements for local hazard warnings while giving automakers a scalable path to expand software-defined safety services. These capabilities can lower deployment costs, support subscription-based connected services and enable continuous safety improvements through software updates.

“Ready Aware gives automakers a flexible way to move connected vehicle safety from reactive intervention to proactive awareness. By transforming real-time road intelligence into timely, contextual alerts, Ready Aware helps drivers anticipate hazards before they come into view while giving automakers a scalable foundation to continuously enhance safety through software,” said Suman Sehra, Global Head of Connectivity Product and Portfolio Management at HARMAN. “This recognition reflects HARMAN’s vision for safer, more informed mobility.”

Recognizing Innovation Across Automotive Technology

The AutoTech Breakthrough Awards program recognizes excellence across automotive and transportation technology categories. Ready Aware’s recognition highlights the role of software-defined, connected intelligence in helping drivers respond to hazards with greater context and confidence.

With Ready Aware, HARMAN is helping drivers access timely context for safer decisions while giving automakers a scalable path to expand connected safety services through software.

To learn more about Ready Aware, visit car.harman.com/experiences/ready-aware

ABOUT HARMAN

HARMAN is a global leader in Lifestyle Audio and Automotive technology. We create intelligent experiences that enrich people’s lives on the road, in their homes, on the stage, and everywhere in between. Our iconic audio brands — including JBL®, Harman Kardon®, AKG®, Bowers & Wilkins®, Denon®, and Marantz® — bring premium sound to consumers and audio/visual professionals worldwide. More than 50 million vehicles globally rely on HARMAN’s technologies to deliver safer, smarter, and more intuitive in-cabin experiences. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., HARMAN has approximately 26,000 employees around the world.

About AutoTech Breakthrough

Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the AutoTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in automotive technologies, services, companies and products. The AutoTech Breakthrough Awards program provides a forum for public recognition around the achievements of AutoTech companies and solutions in categories including Connected Car, Electric Vehicles, Engine Tech, Automotive CyberSecurity, Sensor Technology, Traffic Tech, Vehicle Telematics and more. For more information visit AutoTechBreakthrough.com

Tech Breakthrough LLC does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our recognition programs, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with award designations. Tech Breakthrough LLC recognition consists of the opinions of the Tech Breakthrough LLC organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Tech Breakthrough LLC disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this recognition program, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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