IoT for Automotive

Jim Kolhoff
Global Director of Software Engineering
General Motors (GM) Powertrain

The increasing customer demand for advanced feature content, such as Active Safety, Cyber Security, as well as reduced CO2 emissions and improved fuel economy, is continuing to drive new content in automotive electronics and controls.

The demands of the automotive environment (functional safety/ISO26262, environmental (-40C to +140C), low power consumption) have driven specific automotive semiconductor variants, which can be challenging to develop while supporting low cost expectations.

Technology research and development areas:

• Graphics / Image processing for advanced safety systems
• Speed and magnitude of processing requirements growing GPU or FPGA
• Encoding / decoding for cyber security
• Open source SHE driver / software
• Design methods and semiconductor content that efficiently implements ISO26262 requirements
• For graphic processors, moving to levels higher than ASIL B
• Low power consumption – both running and quiescent
• Energy consumption (fuel economy) due to electrical power consumption (data point?)
• Indications that processing load with 28nm technology may have unfavorably high power dissipation requirements – complex/costly/large heat sinks/cooling required
• Tool kits for developing the software
• Based on open standards to enable portability between architectures
• Open Design Highly Configurable, High Performance Timing Module
• Application of Wide Band-Gap (WBG) power semiconductor devices in power inverters,
• Advanced power semiconductor (Si and WBG) packaging, interconnects, encapsulation and cooling
• On safety critical microprocessors: blending of Consumer and Automotive features (CAN-FD, LIN, PSI-5.d
• Safety strategies for Multi-Core processors: As processing needs expand beyond two cores, not clear that a safety lockstep core on every core is sustainable (Heat, current). Need new options.
• As Silicon Development Cost increases, would expect fewer micro designs to cover multiple application spaces. This implies a need for more customizable / configurable peripherals.
• As Electronic content continues to grow, look for more functions in fewer Modules => increased usage of larger multi-function microcontrollers and increase usage of smaller micros for cost Effective “Smart” Sensors and Actuators.
• Increased / Improved Serialization of I/O between micro and ASICs (internal to ECU): Keep package size down as I/O grows
• Faster Flash Erase and Programming capability – increased memory sizes, faster communications links, data security and hw based data compression accelerators.