In connected car news are Andes Technology, Green Hills, Prefect Tech, Databricks, Kyocera and TIER.
In this Article
Andes Tech & Green Hills Partner
Andes Technology (TWSE: 6533; SIN: US03420C2089; ISIN: US03420C1099), a leading RISC-V CPU IP vendor and a Founding and Premier member of RISC-V International, and Green Hills Software, the worldwide leader in embedded safety and security and a member of RISC-V International, announced their collaboration to offer an integrated and optimized platform for safe and secure computing on the AndesCore™ 25-Series family of RISC-V cores from Andes Technology. The comprehensive software offering from Green Hills Software will include the safety-certified µ-velOSity™ real-time operating system (RTOS), the ASIL-certified MULTI® development environment with advanced system-level debugging and analysis tools and C/C++ Optimizing Compilers, along with the Green Hills Probe for JTAG and trace target connections.
The combined hardware and software platform from Andes Technology and Green Hills Software is designed for SoC companies and end-customers to create market-leading 32/64-bit RISC-V-based SoCs targeting critical functions requiring ISO 26262 ASIL B to ASIL D, making the combined platform ideal for vehicle electronics requiring compact and cost-sensitive SoCs that are still capable of ASIL certification.
Andes Technology is the first RISC-V processor IP vendor to receive ASIL D process certification for both hardware (ISO 26262-5) and software (ISO 26262-6). Andes Technology is committed to supporting automobile professionals in developing safety-related product lines. The functional safety-enabled solution Andes Technology and Green Hills Software are offering is expected to be available for general licensing by the second half of 2022.
“AndesCore RISC-V processor IP with safety enhancement has already been adopted by several early customers due to its unique and competitive value,” said Dr. Charlie Su, Andes Technology President and CTO. “The exciting partnership with Green Hills Software enables us to further offer comprehensive and robust development support for our customers. We welcome the benefits that Green Hills Software’s mature functional safety solutions bring to the RISC-V community to speed up the adoption of RISC-V safety-related applications.”
“We are pleased to expand our production-ready safety solutions support to include the latest advanced safety-certified RISC-V AndesCore IP from technology leader, Andes Technology,” said Dan Mender, Vice President, Business Development, Green Hills Software. “And with this combined hardware-software solution, SoC providers utilizing the AndesCore 25-Series family can immediately start developing their next generation vehicle ECUs with the highest performing, lowest power offerings, while reducing their customers’ time to market and development costs by offering integrated and optimized production-proven solutions.”
The combined hardware and software platform from Andes Technology and Green Hills Software features the following:
- The AndesCore 25-Series RISC-V Family: Andes Technology’s AndesCore 25-Series is a family of 32/64-bit CPU IP cores based on AndesStar™ V5 architecture incorporating RISC-V technology. Its 5-stage pipeline is optimized for high operating frequency and high performance, yet with a small gate count. The 25-Series supports optional single- and double-precision floating point instructions. It also offers branch prediction for efficient branch execution, instruction and data caches, local memories for low-latency accesses, and ECC for L1 memory soft error protection. Multiple power management settings enable efficient energy consumption. Andes Technology’s N25F-SE, a member of the 25-Series family, is being certified at ASIL-B in the final stage.
- The µ-velOSity RTOS: Green Hills Software’s µ-velOSity RTOS is an ideal companion for the AndesCore 25-Series processors because of its small footprint, quick boot times, and optional support for multiple cores and ASIL certification. µ-velOSity is also a perfect complement to the traditional use of AUTOSAR Classic in that it can cover a different class of applications, memory footprint, performance, and features.
- The MULTI IDE: Used by thousands of developers for over three decades, Green Hills Software’s MULTI IDE is the industry’s unrivaled integrated development environment used to create, debug, and optimize code for embedded processors. With MULTI, developers can easily see and fix difficult bugs, pinpoint performance bottlenecks, and prevent future problems. MULTI provides whole-toolchain support for custom RISC-V instructions and delivers ISO 26262 ASIL-certified C/C++ compilers and run time libraries.
- The Green Hills Probe: The Green Hills Probe provides JTAG and high-speed trace connections to targets for multicore hardware bring-up, low-level debugging, and trace-powered analysis tools.
- Guidance and Training: Through design guidance and training, Green Hills Software’s services teams help customers achieve their own tailored levels of safety, security, and performance, with the highest developer productivity.
Prefect Tech Partners with Databricks
Prefect Technologies, Inc., the company behind the open-source data workflow automation platform Prefect, announced its partnership with Databricks, the Data and AI company, to provide data engineers, data scientists and analytics engineers the ability to automate dataflows for even the most data-intensive organizations and applications.
Together, organizations will have greater control and confidence in their workflows along with the ability to connect various resources across the modern data stack on the lakehouse. The Databricks Lakehouse Platform combines the best elements of data lakes and data warehouses, enabling users to unify their data, analytics and AI, build on open source technology, and maintain a consistent platform across clouds. Combined with Prefect’s data workflow orchestration platform, data teams will have greater performance, reliability, and visibility into their data.
“As the Databricks Lakehouse Platform becomes the hub of data-driven organizations, workflow orchestration ensures that accurate, reliable data is ready for critical use cases – with minimal human intervention,” said Roger Murff, VP of Technology Partners, at Databricks. “Prefect saves data engineers time, offering end-to-end visibility and increasing confidence in the accuracy and availability of data.”
For users migrating to Databricks, Prefect allows them to work with tools across the data stack and operate across multiple infrastructures simultaneously. Additionally, data engineers can access all of the tools they currently use while developing in Python.
“Through the Databricks and Prefect integration, we are able to automate our workflows with greater efficiency than ever before,” said Elizabeth Hollinger, Director of Insights, Aggreko. “We have greater confidence in our data’s performance and have raised productivity through the unmatched visibility Prefect provides.”
The Prefect and Databricks partnership is driven by the companies’ shared vision to provide engineers with flexibility and open-source support.
“As data engineers encounter a growing number of tools across the stack, we’re excited to add Databricks as a partner to help companies continue to coordinate their dataflows,” said Jeremiah Lowin, CEO of Prefect. “Databricks’ validation of Prefect’s technology also helps further our growth as the leading dataflow automation platform.”
More information on Prefect and Databricks can be found at https://www.prefect.io/partner/databricks/.
Kyocera New Factory in Japan
Kyocera Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto, hereinafter “Kyocera”) announced that it will construct a new production facility at its Kokubu Plant Campus in Kagoshima, Japan, to increase its production capacity of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), strengthen engineering development capabilities, and ensure ample manufacturing space as Kyocera’s business expands.
Demand for MLCCs is expected to grow as communication terminals and semiconductor devices become more compact and sophisticated. Additionally, the expanding commercialization of 5G data centers, ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and EV (electric vehicle) technology will be facilitated by smaller, more functional electronic components like MLCCs.
A signing ceremony held on August 17, 2022 included Kagoshima Governor Koichi Shiota, Kirishima City Mayor Shinichi Nakashige, and Kyocera officials. Construction will begin in February 2023 and the plant will begin operation in May 2024. The new plant will be located on the current site of Kyocera’s Monozukuri R&D Laboratory, which will be demolished in September, 2022.
In addition to enhancing its electronic components business, Kyocera aims to stimulate economic development in Kagoshima Prefecture and to create new employment opportunities in the community.
TIER Offers In-App Alcohol Impairment Test
TIER, the world’s largest shared micro-mobility provider, has unveiled its latest industry-leading safety feature, an in-app accuracy test to deter riders from drink riding and to point them towards an alternative form of transport if they have been drinking alcohol.
The test – which is now available for IoS riders in some of TIER’s operating cities – has been developed following research conducted by the behavioural and insights consultancy innovationbubble to make sure that it bespokely addresses the behavioral changes that occur when alcohol is consumed. It also comes shortly after research in Oslo – one of TIER’s core markets – found that 4 in 10 of all injuries on e-scooters involved intoxicated riders.
Designed to encourage riders to check their sobriety, the test asks them to match the angle of their phone with an angle displayed on a screen. The rider will be asked to do this three times within a set time frame. If a rider passes all three screens within the allotted time frame, they will be able to take a TIER and if they fail, riders will be encouraged to use an alternative method of transport, providing reassurance that they will ride safely and responsibly.
The test is just the latest innovative safety feature TIER has introduced into its app to encourage responsible riding and follows TIER’s partnership with the ride-hailing app FREE NOW which directs riders to book a taxi via the app if riders confirm they have been drinking. TIER has also already introduced its industry-first Safety Pricing feature, which means riders in London are not charged when vehicles are stationary during trips, further discouraging reckless riding like speeding through red lights. Alongside in-app features, TIER e-scooters come with various leading safety features, including indicator lights, shock absorbers and a large front wheel.
TIER plans to support riders who fail the game by integrating the links of taxi companies or public transport options into the ‘fail screen’ of the app. The app could be integrated with a local taxi company and public transport authority, for example, to link riders to these services directly.