In connected car news are Valens, Intel, DuPont, HARMAN, Renesas, AVL, Ansys, LG, Ford, Nauto, TSMC, Sony Semi and DENSO.
Valens Intros VA6003
Valens Semiconductor , a premier provider of high-speed connectivity solutions for the automotive and audio-video markets, announced that it has released a new chip, the VA6003, which is uniquely capable of high bandwidth symmetric in-vehicle connectivity over simple, low-cost wiring infrastructure. The chipset is already being evaluated by leading automotive customers for integration into their platforms.
The VA6003 is the most optimized Ethernet connectivity solution for the automotive industry, offering a unique suite of capabilities including:
- 1.5Gbps/1.5Gbps symmetric bandwidth
- Extremely low power consumption
- Industry-lowest error rate
- The only multi-gig solution able to operate over low-cost unshielded channels, enabling significant total system cost saving
- Aggregation of multiple interfaces over the same cable such as 1G Ethernet, Audio, and Control data
The VA6003 is the newest product in Valens’ VA6000 chipset family, which is already deployed in various Mercedes-Benz models. This product derivative offers a more efficient and cost-effective solution to address various infotainment applications and customer needs.
Intel Buys Tower
Intel Corporation and Tower Semiconductor, a leading foundry for analog semiconductor solutions, announced a definitive agreement under which Intel will acquire Tower for $53 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion. The acquisition significantly advances Intel’s IDM 2.0 strategy as the company further expands its manufacturing capacity, global footprint and technology portfolio to address unprecedented industry demand.
“Tower’s specialty technology portfolio, geographic reach, deep customer relationships and services-first operations will help scale Intel’s foundry services and advance our goal of becoming a major provider of foundry capacity globally,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. “This deal will enable Intel to offer a compelling breadth of leading-edge nodes and differentiated specialty technologies on mature nodes – unlocking new opportunities for existing and future customers in an era of unprecedented demand for semiconductors.”
DuPont & MCM IATF Cert
DuPont announces that the Microcircuit and Components Materials (MCM) business, including their largest manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico, has received IATF 16949 certification.
The International Standard for Automotive Quality Management System‘s IATF 16949 is one of the automotive industry’s most widely used international standards for quality management. Jointly developed by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) members and approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the standard is based on ISO 9001 and is augmented with customer specific requirements for the automotive industry. IATF 16949 focuses on meeting customer requirements efficiently and effectively through continuous improvement, defect prevention, and reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain.
HARMAN Certified for Avionics
HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer, and enterprise markets, has announced that its Digital Transformation Solutions business unit is now certified for EN 9100:2018 / AS9100D. This accomplishment is the first ever avionics certification for HARMAN.
DS-TEC Deployment
DS-TEC Energy, a global leader in battery-buffered, ultra-fast charging technology, announced that Smart City Capital will be deploying more than 200 ADS-TEC Energy ultra-high-speed ChargeBox electric vehicle (EV) charging stations throughout Florida. This is the single largest order of ADS-TEC Energy ChargeBox units to date in the U.S., and an extension of Smart City Capital’s initial order announced in late 2021. The company also plans a third phase of deployment that is expected to involve more than 200 ADS-TEC Energy charging systems across 13 states in the U.S.
Renesas & AVL Partner
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and AVL, the leading company in development, simulation and testing in the automotive sector, announced their collaboration to deliver customer support for the development of electronic control units (ECUs) that comply with the ISO 26262 international standard for automotive functional safety. Under this collaboration, AVL will provide comprehensive support for the development of complex and specialized functional safety systems for Renesas’ automotive customers.
It has become a challenge to efficiently develop complex advanced ADAS/automated driving (AD) systems that comply with functional safety standards. Renesas provides automotive R-Car System on Chips (SoCs), RH850 automotive control microcontrollers (MCUs), power management ICs (PMICs) and software solutions that support levels ASIL B to ASIL D of ISO26262. However, to meet functional safety standards, the entire ECU system must be compliant, not just the semiconductor devices. Therefore, even with the use of R-Car and RH850 that meet the functional safety requirements, ISO 26262 compliant ECU development requires in depth system level expertise. AVL has a proven track record of supporting the development of ISO 26262 compliant ECUs from both hardware and software perspectives. Through this collaboration, Renesas customers can leverage the sophisticated safety solutions of Renesas components, and benefit from AVL’s expert support for functional safety, enabling reduced development time for ISO 26262-compliant ECUs.
“We are pleased to be able to offer Renesas customers AVL’s advanced expertise and extensive experience in functional safety,” said Naoki Yoshida, Vice President, Automotive Digital Products Marketing Division at Renesas. “This collaboration will enable all of our customers around the world to quickly develop ISO 26262-compliant ECUs using Renesas’ highly reliable products.”
“With the proliferation of ADAS/AD, the number of ECUs that need to support functional safety is only going to increase,” said Dirk Geyer, Director Functional Safety and Cyber Security at AVL. “AVL can provide both hardware and software support for various levels of safety, including advanced support such as customized FMEDA and product-specific failure rate analysis. We look forward to providing comprehensive, global support to Renesas customers.”
Ansys Simulation for LG Electronics
Ansys is supplying simulation solutions to LG Electronics to help strengthen its sustainability and digital transformation efforts by integrating virtual R&D simulations based on computer-aided engineering (CAE) into the earliest stages of product development. The integration will increase engineering and product efficiency while reducing development time, the need for physical prototyping, and the costs associated with it. The collaboration will be supported by a new five-year enterprise license agreement, which provides LG Electronics with continued access to Ansys’ top-tier simulation solutions, building upon a longstanding relationship and previous agreement.
Ansys simulation solutions will support LG to accelerate and optimize product development in its core technologies and sectors like healthcare, sensors, equipment, and materials, which are major technology areas for LG Electronics’ digital transformation. For example, Ansys’ virtual model capable of 1D–3D coupling can support LG Electronics to develop the dynamic characteristics of the compressor, a core module of home appliance products, which expanded design options. Further, with a predictive accuracy of more than 95% on performance, Ansys’ simulation solutions enabled resource-efficient production that streamlined product development more sustainably by significantly reducing material use, costs, and multiple redesigns.
Nauto for Navistar
Nauto, a leading provider of AI-based vehicle safety technology for commercial fleets and the automotive sector, and Navistar, manufacturer of International® commercial trucks and engines, announced a flagship distribution agreement to make Nauto’s predictive-AI vehicle safety solution available for new fleet vehicle purchases or as an upgrade for existing fleet vehicles throughout International Truck’s large network of more than 1,000 dealers.
As a leader in Class 6 through Class 8 vehicles and with more than one million International brand trucks on the road throughout North America, Navistar continues to invest in safety innovation as part of its broad commitment to create safer roads for all by making the best driver safety features available to its fleet customers.
“Navistar has always been a pioneer in industry-leading aftermarket offerings and the AI driven Nauto camera system further builds on that legacy,” said Chintan Sopariwala, Group Vice President, Parts, Navistar. “With the addition of Nauto’s predictive-AI safety technology to our aftermarket parts portfolio, we are taking a significant step forward towards our commitment to safer roads through safer driving.”
Nauto’s advanced AI technology tracks and analyzes risk in real-time. When it detects risks, it can provide preventative warnings which may give drivers extra time to respond. Nauto’s tech is trained on more than 1.3 billion AI-processed driving miles to make alerts more accurate, helping to eliminate issues around alert fatigue from false alerts.
“Nauto’s partnership with Navistar is an important milestone in terms of commercial fleet industry adoption. Our in-vehicle alerts and fleet safety reporting are designed to automatically help drivers be safer without manager involvement and help prevent collisions while respecting driver privacy,” said Stefan Heck, CEO, Nauto. “We enable our customers to benefit from an average 50%-80% drop in collisions and loss in just a few months and to exonerate their drivers.”
The two companies will explore deeper integration for existing and new fleets, and further collaborate on the reduction of distracted driving events and collisions in the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) safety and fleet management space.
Nauto will work closely with International Truck dealers to provide this new offering tailored for heavy-duty vehicles. Packages are available now and include Nauto hardware bundled with service durations of 1, 3, or 5 years.
TSMC, Sony Semi & DENSO Stake in JASM
TSMC , Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation and DENSO Corporation (“DENSO”) announced that DENSO will take a minority stake in Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. (“JASM”), TSMC’s majority-owned manufacturing subsidiary in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan with a US$0.35 billion investment. With this equity investment, DENSO will hold a more than 10% equity stake in JASM.
Construction of JASM’s fab in Japan is scheduled to begin in the 2022 calendar year with production targeted to begin by the end of 2024. To support market demand, TSMC will also enhance JASM’s capabilities with 12/16 nanometer FinFET process technology in addition to the previously announced 22/28 nanometer process and increase monthly production capacity to 55,000 12-inch wafers. With the additional capacity, the total capital expenditure for JASM’s Kumamoto fab is estimated to be approximately US$8.6 billion with strong support from the Japanese government. The fab is expected to directly create about 1,700 high-tech professional jobs.
C.R. England Platform Science Tech
C.R. England, a leader in transportation solutions, and Platform Science, a leading connected vehicle platform, announced a new partnership to bring Platform Science technology to C.R. England’s fleet of 4,000 tractors. Platform Science’s transportation solutions make it easier for fleets to develop, deploy and manage mobile devices on their vehicles.CR
England
C.R. England will equip its fleet with Platform Science’s platform to integrate Trimble MAPS, a trusted commercial vehicle road network & routing engine, and Drivewyze Preclear, a leading mobile-based weigh station application. C.R. England is an industry leader in Dedicated, Over-The-Road, cross-border Mexico, and Intermodal services.
EPA Award for Ford Louisville
In a signal of Ford Motor Company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant has been presented with a 2021 Pollution Prevention Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4. The award recognizes the Louisville Assembly Plant for its leadership and commitment to practices that reduce, eliminate or prevent pollution at its source, specifically for a new water recycling initiative developed by plant employees.
In 2020, the Louisville Assembly Plant began implementing a pollution prevention project to reuse treated wastewater in the paint pre-treatment process to reduce the volume of waste water sent from the plant to the Publicly Owned Treatment Works wastewater treatment facility.
During the first year of implementation, the Louisville Assembly Plant reduced more than 5 million gallons of city water use, which equates to over 22 gallons per vehicle and a cost savings of approximately $50,000. Reusing wastewater also helps bring Ford closer to the company’s aspiration to only use freshwater for human consumption, and builds on the more than 12.5 billion gallons of water saved to date through water conservation and recycling programs since 2000.