Automotive systems have become a huge staple at CES 2024 with concept vehicles, automotive software, parts and more all occupying a major part of the convention.
Semiconductors are just as important especially as electronics are as big of a part of the automotive segment as other industries. Here’s a quick roundup of things introduced from the world’s largest tradeshow.
Smarter, safer vehicles
Texas Instruments (TI) introduced at CES 2024 new chips designed for automotive safety and intelligence.
First is the AWR2544, a 77 GHz millimeter-wave radar sensor chip for satellite radar architectures. The chip will work on high levels of autonomy by improving sensor fusion and decision-making in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). TI called this semiconductor the first single-chip radar sensor designed for satellite architectures that allows developers to use 360° sensor coverage and sensor fusion algorithms.
The DRV3946-Q1, an integrated contactor driver, and DRV3901-Q1, an integrated squib driver for pyro fuses, are area software-programmable driver chips for built-in diagnostics and support functional safety for battery management and powertrain systems.
These two programmable driver chips address the need for safer and efficient control of high-voltage disconnect circuits in a battery management system or other powertrain. Both chips are ISO 26262 functional safety-compliant and built-in diagnostics.
Renesas’ GaN grab
Japanese chipmaker Renesas made a splash to increase its portfolio of gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors with a bid to acquire Transphorm Inc., a maker of such chips.
The deal, worth about $339 million, will provide Renesas with in-house GaN technology, which is key to making power semiconductors for use in EVs, computing, renewable energy, industrial power conversion and EV fast chargers.
Wide bandgap semiconductors are in extremely hot demand as the automotive transformation to all-electric vehicles continues to evolve and regions are increasingly investing in renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
This move to acquire Transphorm follows Renesas’ announcement that it will establish an in-house production line of silicon carbide (SiC) chips, with a 10-year SiC wafer agreement with Woflspeed.
NXP’s 28 nm RFCMOS chip
NXP Semiconductors N.V. extended its automotive radar one-chip family at CES 2024 with a radar transceiver. NXP claims it is the first 28 nm radio frequency CMOS (RFCMOS) radar chip.
The transceiver is a multi-core radar processor and a MACsec hardware engine for secure data communication over automotive Ethernet. The system-on-chip is designed to work with low-level radar sensor data at up to 1 Gbit/s.
The chips allow carmakers to optimize ADAS portioning for software-defined vehicles. Additionally, OEMs can introduce software-defined radar features during the lifetime of the vehicle through over-the-air updates.
NXP announced that automotive electronic supplier Hella will use the SoC for its 7th generation radar portfolio that will include variants for front, rear, corner and side radar.
Neuron HPC
Panasonic rolled out its high-performance compute (HPC) system called Neuron to address the needs of software-defined vehicles.
Neuron combines multiple computing zones for reduced cost, weight and integration by reducing numerous redundant components. Panasonic called the design upgradeable, scalable and future-proof for in-vehicle platforms.
Features of Neuron include:
- Centralized computing
- Scalability and configurability
- Thermal management
- Connectivity upgrades
- SDV software framework
- Suite of cyber security services
- Cloud native software platform
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Infineon and Aurora Labs announced a new collaboration to improve vehicle performance using artificial intelligence-based solutions.
