Automotive Electronics

Renesas has developed hardware fault detection and prediction for functional safety in automotive computers, and applied the techniques to a prototype nine core 16nm fin-fet processor supporting ISO 26262 ASIL B. Self-driving cars is a potential application. There are several approaches to hardware fault detection, such as logic duplication and self-testing. “In large-scale SoCs, the complexity of functions and high ...

The UK government is investing £3.4m in a test-bed for connected and autonomous vehicle technologies. Called UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UK-CITE), the project will create a test route capable of testing both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure systems on 41 miles of roads around Coventry and Solihull. Roadside communications equipment will be installed along the route during the three year project to ...

IC design house Sondrel says that automotive SoC design is now starting to focus around  the 28nm process node. This is now a well-established and high yield node and so will support the automotive sector’s need for dielectric isolation (leakage current v speed trade off). This will mean that IC designers must address the design rules associated with: High Temperature ...

Connected cars with wireless communications links, telematics and vehicle advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) will require increasing levels of electronic test, write John Russell, Bill Mckinley and Matt Hodgetts The technological sophistication of modern automobiles means that they are very different from the models of the past. In many areas conventional mechanical systems have been replaced by sophisticated electronics. This ...

Sensors placed everywhere generating a broad stream of data will be the basis of applications for the internet of things of the future. These will be sensors that are many times smarter and more sensitive than the ones we have today. They will also be produced and installed in far greater numbers and be much cheaper than they are now. ...

The government is giving £31m to a group of vehicle makers to create lightweight diesel engines, high energy density batteries, hybrid light commercial vehicles, fuel efficient hybrid engines and energy efficient off highway vehicles. This is part of a wider £74m commitment by the government. The group includes Jaguar Land Rover, the London Taxi Company and AMG Batteries. Five new projects: ...

Ford has decided base its in-car infotainment network technology on a data networking systems supplied by Analog Devices. Called the Automotive Audio Bus (A2B), it is used to distribute audio and control data together with clock and power over a single, unshielded twisted-pair wire. The attraction of using a single, unshielded twisted-pair wire is that it reduces system costs as well ...

Cypress Semiconductor believes high-end electronics tech should be more readily available in affordable cars and it has moved its Traveo microcontrollers to a 40nm process technology  which it says will make them more cost-effective for instrument clusters and body electronics. The MCUs have as standard up to 4Mbyte of high-density embedded flash, stepper motor control, TFT display control, advanced sound output capabilities ...

The UK government has confirmed its commitment to zero emission cars by saying  that all passenger vehicles sales must be for zero emission vehicles by 2050. This was the ambitious target agreed at the International Climate Conference in Paris before Christmas. The UK has also signed up to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance, for promoting the wider international uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles. Members include ...

Renesas Electronics is working with German safety-critical system firm TTTech Computertechnik to develop an electronic control unit (ECU) development platform for driver assistance systems (ADAS). These automotive systems rely on data from sensors throughout the vehicle to function. The aim of the collaboration is to create a control module which runs software that is compatible with various sensors from different suppliers. The software needs ...