Functional safety is about ensuring that products operate safely and do so even when they go wrong. My colleague hopkins shares some insight on why you can’t choose to ignore it.
The automotive industry has entered a period of rapid evolution that is changing the way cars are designed, used and sold. Driver safety technologies, traffic congestion, environmental concern, and the fundamental premise of how we use our cars are all influencing the next generation of vehicles. Many OEMs are addressing these challenges through increased computation for greater control. As a sign of the times, Euro NCAP continues to push the vehicle manufacturers by regularly evolving the five star rating to include more and more safety assist features such as lane support.
The number of processors in each market segment has progressively risen and there is now an average of 40-50 processors per car with high-end models containing around 120 processors. Moreover, Semicast Research forecasts annual revenues for under-the-hood automotive ECU electronics alone will grow to almost USD 86 billion by 2022, from around USD 53 billion in 2015, a CAGR of seven percent making automotive electronics a valuable opportunity for semiconductor vendors.