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AN INTELLIGENT NERVOUS SYSTEM DRIVES A RESILIENT, SOFTWARE-DEFINED VEHICLE
Consumers are demanding hyper-personalized experiences throughout their lives—from phones, home entertainment, and increasingly, from their automobiles. Such experiences and functionalities are being enabled by software-defined technologies and are helping move the auto industry towards a more immersive, safer, and productive cabin experience. These technologies are fundamentally redefining how value is being created and delivered, and how strategic partnerships are required for success.
Whether it’s engaging audio and voice-activated infotainment or advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS)—the challenge lies in rapidly delivering on consumer expectations in a cost-effective structure. Savvy OEMs realize that the automobile today is an electrical design challenge, centered around sophisticated semiconductor solutions.
A system-level perspective is needed for semiconductor technology providers to enable an electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture that accommodates intelligence at the edge, robust connectivity, efficient power management, software centralization, and over-the-air (OTA) functionality updates.
DAWN OF A NEW ERA: THE SOFTWARE-DEFINED VEHICLE
“The software-defined vehicle will perhaps be the most technologically advanced device most of us would ever own. The megatrend is bringing us to a new era, with the automotive ecosystem expanding and new players working together in previously unimaginable ways to deliver on consumer success.”Yasmine King
Vice President, Automotive Cabin Experience | Analog Devices
CREATING UNIQUENESS THROUGH COMMONALITY
SDV technologies are transforming the automotive experience by adapting to the occupant, personalizing the cabin environment, enhancing safety, and optimizing performance. These innovations empower automakers to deliver unique, evolving experiences (via OTA updates), fostering brand loyalty and trust, and enhancing ownership experiences. By leveraging precision technologies, automakers can gain deep insights into consumer preferences, which help drive strategic innovations and strengthen long-term relationships with car buyers.
The challenge is determining how best to respond to consumer expectations while accelerating deployment. One answer would be empowering OEMs to leverage standardized, scalable semiconductor platforms, which would help speed development, control costs, and maintain brand differentiation. Automakers can leverage these scalable platforms to achieve better reuse of software codes and ensure a competitive edge.
“We need to make the hardware architecture of the car as general in purpose and as programmable as a smartphone. The main objective is to empower automakers to differentiate their offerings. Flexible connectivity, which makes any data available to any function, gives them that ability by offering software developers maximum freedom in application development, within the constraints of functional safety, security, and regulations.”Geir Ostrem
Technology Fellow, Automotive Cabin Experience | Analog Devices
ENABLING AN AUTOMOBILE’S INTELLIGENT NERVOUS SYSTEM
By 2030, software-defined vehicles are expected to generate roughly 200 Gbps of data – primarily video.1 High-speed, wired, data links are needed to transport this data between sensors on the edge of the vehicle, to high-performance vehicle computers and storage, and to displays and actuators. These high-speed links combined with high compute capacity and AI, enable automakers to enhance their customers’ driving and vehicle ownership experience.
Edge processing will help mitigate this by allowing sensors to make real-time decisions locally, without relying on centralized cloud computing systems. This Intelligent Edge enables automakers to enhance their customers’ driving and vehicle ownership experience with precise, real-time intelligence.
System-level design is necessary for semiconductor companies to simplify SDV architecture, enable the Intelligent Edge, improve platform value, and improve power efficiency. ADI’s intelligent nervous system—which mimics the human nervous system—connects various subsystems for seamless interoperability and real-time adaptability without added complexity. This system allows SDVs to rapidly collect and analyze data, enabling quick and informed decisions, optimizing performance and safety, and adaptability to changing conditions.
As the automotive industry consolidates domain controllers and function-specific controllers into centralized cross-domain compute units, software will be centralized to allow frequent over-the-air updates, reducing vehicle warranty costs and improving the user experience. Cross-domain zonal controllers enable substantial reduction in wiring, but require more advanced networking technologies to improve data flow and achieve seamless control of various sub-systems. It involves rethinking how we design, integrate, and manage software and hardware components within the vehicle.
3 Capabilities of a Vehicle’s Intelligent Nervous System
CONFIGURE
Configure means ensuring seamless communication between systems for efficient operations and timely decisions. For example, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). In foggy conditions, sensors detect an object, algorithms analyze the data, and the vehicle issues a warning while preparing to brake or steer away from the object. Every component, from cameras to decision-making algorithms, to the mechanisms executing the response, must work together cohesively to ensure safety and performance.
SYNTHESIZE
Synthesize focuses on the vehicle's ability to aggregate, fuse, and process data from multiple sensors. It represents the Intelligent Edge of the vehicle, where quick, reflexive decisions are based on comprehensive data analysis. Imagine a vehicle navigating through a busy, urban environment. The vehicle would need to integrate data from onboard sensors like cameras, LIDAR, and radar, along with GPS and V2X inputs, enhancing situational awareness and decision-making. Synthesize also interprets human interactions, such as voice commands, improving its intelligence and responsiveness, and ensuring that the vehicle is not just reactive but proactive.
COORDINATE
The final step is coordination, the linchpin that ties together the intelligent nervous system of the SDV. By coordinating various hardware platforms, it enables insights, supports scalability, and fosters ecosystem integration. Coordination also ensures all the hardware and software elements work together harmoniously and the vehicle operates efficiently and safely in various conditions.
OPTIMIZING THE INTELLIGENT EDGE OF THE DIGITAL COCKPIT
Having established Configure, Synthesize, and Coordinate, we need to optimize the Intelligent Edge to realize our transformative vision for automotive technology. Today’s vehicles rely on three main networks—audio, visual, and body control—which form the vehicle’s foundation. What’s more, there is a need to simplify cabling and wiring, streamline production, and enhance reliability and maintenance.
In audio networks, we’ve created transmission capability that allows for real-time functionality over low cost wires. In body control, eliminating microcontrollers and edge software reduces costs and simplifies architecture, making software-defined features more accessible. This approach also strengthens cybersecurity, safeguarding the privacy and safety of car occupants.
For visual and perception networks, higher bandwidth solutions are essential to handle growing data from cameras, radar, and LIDAR, while simplifying the wiring harness.
ADI enables these capabilities through its leading portfolio of technology solutions.
“By 2030, advanced audio and acoustic applications like road-noise cancellation, spatial audio, voice control, are expecting a 2.5× increase in audio processing, and 2× increase in speaker and microphone count. Similarly, body electronics count is expected to increase by 45%. To enable low-latency connectivity, and reduce the associated hardware complexity, power consumption, and costs, the ECU must be consolidated into a central compute, networked with 10BASE-T1S ethernet-based zonal controllers.”Andrew Lanfear
General Manager, Automotive Audio and Networking, Automotive Cabin Experience
REGULATIONS DRIVE A BIG ROLE IN SDV TRANSITIONGovernmental regulations also play a major role in accelerating SDV transformation, including mandating strict safety standards worldwide, which require intelligence at the edge. These safety mandates strain the functionality requirements and would be best realized via SD capabilities. Such regulations include:
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“Current Level 3 ADAS in cars feature 12+ cameras, and multiple radars and a premium-segment car today can have 4+ displays. This trend is only set to increase to enable more sophisticated safety features, autonomous driving and infotainment systems. In this transformative era of automobiles, delivering reliable video and perception sensor data connectivity, while minimizing wiring and software overheads, are essential.”Bala Mayampurath
Vice President, Automotive Video and Data Solutions | Analog Devices
JOY OF CAR OWNERSHIP: AT THE HEART OF THE SDV
To redefine the future of mobility, it is clear we must cultivate a harmonious ecosystem. At the heart of this collaboration is enabling the joy of car ownership, a sentiment we aim to amplify through personalization, value enhancement, and ecosystem catalysis.
The ecosystem we participate in is not just a collection of components; it's a dynamic platform that enables us to gain invaluable insights into consumer behavior. These insights can help us forge long-term relationships with our customers, adapting and evolving to meet their changing needs. The ecosystem can co-create by leveraging standardized semiconductor platforms, the vehicle’s nervous system, and the agility it delivers to bring new features and capabilities to market faster and champion sustainability.
References
1 Analog Devices internal estimates
2 NIH; Real-time driver monitoring system with facial landmark-based eye closure detection and head pose recognition
3 United Treaty Collection
4 Congress.gov: H.R.3164 – Hot Cars Act of 2021
5 Alliance for Automotive Innovation; FCC Greenlights Major Safety Tech: Alerts Drivers When Kids Left in Hot Cars
