Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are conceived as highly dynamic, adaptable, and environmentally aware products. As such, there is an emerging consensus among prominent industry players and consortiums that modular, scalable, and standardised hardware will be necessary to unlock the transformative potential of vehicle software. Efforts to achieve it are underway, but challenges remain on the horizon.
Perhaps the largest issue is energy consumption—gone are the days when 12V batteries were adequate for car electronics. Electric vehicles (EVs) are stepping things up to 400-800V units, but these must power edge processing and infotainment while providing enough range to be attractive for customers. As advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and sensor hardware (LiDAR, radar, cameras, etc.) for automated driving become the norm, they must also be easily updateable over-the-air (OTA) for safety and performance enhancement.
“Central computing platforms are frequently considered when it comes to energy efficiency, yet these other SDV system elements don’t necessarily get the attention they deserve,” states Faisal Saleem, Senior Vice President of End Markets at GlobalFoundries. With modern smart sensors collecting gigabytes of data per second and the need for vehicle connectivity growing, he tells Automotive World that the problem will only become larger.
SDV chip attributes
As a semiconductor design and manufacturing company, GlobalFoundries has observed flourishing opportunities in automotive over the last 15 years. “It’s one of the fastest-growing end markets; we make more than US$1bn in revenue from automotive alone,” says Saleem. Through its AutoPro platform, the company combines extensive technical expertise with a comprehensive supply chain to help bring SDV-ready chip solutions to market quickly. But what are some of the most important system attributes today?
In agreement with some other players, Saleem calls OTA “the essence” of an SDV. “Enabling it requires a small footprint chip with low power requirements and embedded memory to write code extremely fast.” GlobalFoundries is iterating the capabilities of its products significantly to match this brief—its latest 22FDX system-on-chip (SoC) platform has non-volatile memory ten-times faster and 45% more energy efficient than the previous generation. The company also incorporates the wireless connectivity tech necessary to download software updates across short-, mid-, and long-range radio frequencies.
Facilitating and improving automated/autonomous driving capabilities across the life of a vehicle present another important area for development. Sensor hardware typically collects data on the edge and transmits it to the central processing unit, requiring high-interface chips. “Our 22FDX and 12nm FinFET platforms are ideally suited for this: automakers need high speed chips with low jitter, noise, and power consumption,” says Saleem. Ultra-low power operations that don’t sacrifice performance will be particularly crucial as companies around the world race to deploy commercially viable SAE Level 4 robotaxi services in the second half of the decade.
Data centre tech in automotive
In the pursuit of more energy efficient SDVs, Saleem notes that automotive still has much to learn from the data centre space. Fundamentally, the challenges to be overcome are exactly the same.
“Power comes from the grid to those buildings at high voltage, but the chips used run at just one volt,” he says. “That requires a series of voltage conversions to step it down appropriately.” EV architectures are no different: power is converted at several points, from the charger to the battery and then to various systems. In both instances, this process usually results in a degree of power wastage, yet data centres still often manage to achieve efficiency of around 90%, while EVs are generally 77-85% energy efficient.
Data centres haven’t yet reached their optimum performance, and as they push for energy efficiency in excess of 95%, a rush of new semiconductor technology is emerging. Both the transition from silicon-based chips to gallium nitride (GaN) and the development of chiplets—which break SoCs into small, interconnected, and modular blocks that can be assembled according to specific use cases—offer increased power density at lower energy usage. Meanwhile, photonic systems using silicon as an optical medium for data transmission promise communication between graphic processing units that is faster and up to a thousand times higher capacity than standard.
“The same principles and technology can apply to SDVs,” claims Saleem. “GlobalFoundries is already engaging with OEMs interested in silicon photonics. There could also soon be universally defined chiplets for ADAS and infotainment, meaning companies wouldn’t need to worry about hardware compatibility issues from different suppliers.” However, he adds that the automotive industry currently remains too fragmented to realise this level of hardware agnosticism. “Everyone has their own proprietary cores, networking chips, and software. Consolidation is a work in progress, but not everyone yet agrees on the best way to bring SDV development together into a seamless end-to-end process.”
Rallying behind efficiency
What might unite developers is a shared rallying cry. Few currently contend that the future of SDVs will be anything other than electric, and efficiency has already taken root among several industry leaders as a primary concern. Saleem equates the quest to reduce power consumption while increasing performance as tantamount to the “freedom” of mobility in the electric era.
The less power a vehicle’s systems waste, the further it can go and the more it can do beyond go from A to B
“In an electric SDV, greater efficiency translates to more range, and that’s ultimately what consumers want right now.” Similarly, more efficient vehicle architectures will also make charging faster, safer, and more convenient—all primary concerns for customers and automakers alike. Once these fundamental issues are resolved, automakers will already have the hardware necessary for future differentiation through software.
Importantly, maintaining a common focus on efficiency will act as a guiding light for SDV development throughout the world. “The less power a vehicle’s systems waste, the further it can go and the more it can do beyond go from A to B. It’s really as simple as that,” Saleem concludes. For its part, GlobalFoundries will leverage the capacity of its facilities in Germany, Singapore, and the US to meet automotive customers’ evolving needs wherever SDV innovation is happening.
