* Update Cluster Autoscaler version to 1.16.2 (CA release docs: https://github.com/kubernetes/autoscaler/releases/tag/cluster-autoscaler-1.16.2) ([#84038](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/84038), [@losipiuk](https://github.com/losipiuk))

  If any `PreBindPreFlight` returned `Success`, the scheduler put NominatedNodeName to the pod 
  so that other components (such as the cluster autoscaler) could notice the pod was going to be bound to the node. ([#133021](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/133021), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]

- [KCCM - service controller]: enabled connection draining for terminating pods upon node downscale by the cluster autoscaler. This is done by not reacting to the taint used by the cluster autoscaler to indicate that the node is going away soon, thus keeping the node referenced by the load balancer until the VM has been completely deleted. ([#115204](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115204),...

- Kube-controller-manager: the `horizontal-pod-autoscaler-upscale-delay` and `horizontal-pod-autoscaler-downscale-delay` flags have been removed (deprecated and non-functional since v1.12). ([#124948](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124948), [@SataQiu](https://github.com/SataQiu)) [SIG API Machinery, Apps and Autoscaling]...

- The scheduler now clears the `nominatedNodeName` field for Pods upon scheduling or binding failure. External components, such as Cluster Autoscaler and Karpenter, should not overwrite this field. ([#135007](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/135007), [@ania-borowiec](https://github.com/ania-borowiec)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]

- Enabled `kube-controller-manager` to support '--concurrent-horizontal-pod-autoscaler-syncs' flag to set the number of horizontal pod autoscaler controller workers. ([#108501](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/108501), [@zroubalik](https://github.com/zroubalik))

  
  - `cronjob-controller`
  - `endpoint-controller`
  - `endpointslice-controller`
  - `endpointslicemirroring-controller`
  - `horizontal-pod-autoscaler`
  - `node-controller`
  - `pod-garbage-collector`
  - `storage-version-migrator-controller` ([#130405](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130405), [@kariya-mitsuru](https://github.com/kariya-mitsuru)) [SIG Auth]

- Restartable init containers resource in pod autoscaler are now calculated. ([#120001](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120001), [@qingwave](https://github.com/qingwave))

  
  - `cronjob-controller`
  - `endpoint-controller`
  - `endpointslice-controller`
  - `endpointslicemirroring-controller`
  - `horizontal-pod-autoscaler`
  - `node-controller`
  - `pod-garbage-collector`
  - `storage-version-migrator-controller` ([#130461](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130461), [@kariya-mitsuru](https://github.com/kariya-mitsuru)) [SIG Auth]

- Updated `Cluster Autosaler` to version 1.26.1. ([#116526](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/116526), [@pacoxu](https://github.com/pacoxu)) [SIG Autoscaling and Cloud Provider]