3.8 Innovative Products for Autonomous Driving (part 1)

The 2nd car and mobility revolution is predominantly enabled by innovative semiconductor products. The new megatrends in mobility such as vehicle electrification, vehicle connectivity and autonomous driving are creating a diversifying demand for new automotive semiconductors. The presentation will show the major trends in this area and also focus on approaches how Functional Safety - a key requirement for automotive semiconductors - can be handled in the design process of those products.

While autonomous driving already promises more comfort and safety, connected driving makes it possible to use the new strategies to improve the safety of road traffic, significantly reduce CO2 emissions and increase traffic efficiency. Additional 5G networking possibilities will remove the fundamental limitation of today's autonomous approaches that are used for controlling the vehicle by means of the onboard installed sensors only. It will be possible to use the information gained by the sensors of all neighbor vehicles as well as the environment or the existing infrastructure (e. g. surveillance cameras at crossroads, highways, geolocal weather sensors, etc.). All these can be virtually merged in the network, resulting in better decision-making.

ICs developed for autonomous driving do not only have to be designed according respective ASIL levels. They also need to be based and manufactured on highly reliable semiconductor processes.
X-FAB is the leading analog/mixed-signal and MEMS foundry group manufacturing silicon wafers for the automotive market with a track record of more than 25 years as automotive foundry. Already at process development, the clear focus is on highly reliable semiconductor processes. This also applies to IPs such as Flash, EEPROM, digital IPs like RAM and ROM, all for high temperature application up to 175°C junction temperature. The PDKs - which are the interface between IC designers and the silicon - are developed by X-FAB with the target to give chip designers all necessary tools on hand to enable first-time-right mixed-signal IC development for harsh environments. X-FAB does not only provide simulation models which behave as close as possible to the real silicon, but also tools for lifetime calculation based on user defined mission profiles. X-FAB also develops NVW IPs explicitly targeting automotive needs. These IPs include for example error correction and detection modes and are especially suited for autonomous driving cars.