signals header
Two people sit facing each other in a sleek autonomous vehicle with digital screens and city views.
Two people sit facing each other in a sleek autonomous vehicle with digital screens and city views.
 

SIGNALS+ 在线快讯订阅

持续关注Signals+,了解有关连接、数字健康、电气化和智能工业的最新见解、信息和想法并加以利用。

您可以随时通过单击由ADI公司发送的电子邮件中的退订链接,或者通过ADI隐私设置来更改您的设置。

谢谢您的订阅,请查看您的邮箱确认邮件并完成注册.

您将实时接收突破性技术如何在全球范围内产生深远影响!

关闭
Yasmine King
Yasmine King,

航空航天、防务和RF产品总经理

ADI公司

作者详情
Yasmine King
Yasmine King是ADI公司的总经理,拥有超过20年的半导体行业从业经验。Yasmine从DSP软件工程师做起,先后担任了工程师、业务开发、销售和综合管理职务。如今,Yasmine作为总经理,将创新业务领导技能与工程背景相结合,对航空航天与防务部门进行转型。Yasmine热衷于通过FIRST机器人大赛培养新一代工程师,她是一名活跃的铁人三项选手,并将运动的毅力融入到工作中。
关闭详情

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

Consumer in a car surrounded by terms: 'OEMs,' 'Energy Grid,' 'Tier 1,' 'Silicon Providers,' 'Big Data & Fintech.'
Software-defined vehicles are ushering in a new era of innovation, where an expanding ecosystem brings together new players to meet evolving customer demands.

CREATING UNIQUENESS THROUGH COMMONALITY

Woman in backseat of autonomous car with digital display for temperature, music, and destination.

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.

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

Overhead animation of a white car transitioning from solid to transparent, showing internal components.

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.

Hand adjusting car audio knob with 'Audio Network' overlay; dashboard visible.
Top view of car on a road at night with sensor waves, 'Body Control' text below.
Circular graphic of smartphone and digital dashboard with map and contact image; 'Visual Network' text below.

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.

Car interior network diagram showing audio, body, and visual systems with HPC ECUs linked to zonal ECUs and data flow paths.
“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

营销经理 – 处理器和DSP


REGULATIONS DRIVE A BIG ROLE IN SDV TRANSITION

Governmental 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:

  • Euro NCAP and EC Regulations: Mandate driver monitoring systems (DMS) to ensure driver attentiveness.2
  • U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB): Recommends DMS for semi-autonomous vehicles.2
  • United Nations Legislation: Requires hands-on/off detection (HOD) systems for lane-keeping assist (LKAS).3
  • U.S. Hot Cars Act: Mandates passenger detection systems to prevent heatstroke deaths in new vehicles.4
  • Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Aims to implement child presence detection (CPD) in all new cars by 2025.5
“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

Backseat view of a convertible driving on a scenic mountain road, surrounded by forests and peaks under a cloudy sky.

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