The number and complexity of automotive SoCs and Control Systems is growing dramatically to fill the demand for new features in next-generation vehicles.  Let's look at the specifics. In new cars you will have an advanced graphical user interface, voice recognition, and intuitive touchscreen capabilities. In addition to driver interactions, electrical control systems assist in both driving and stopping the vehicle. This will drive significant growth of the In-Vehicle Network (IVN) semiconductor market. In 2019, the total market in automotive semiconductors will reach 38 billion US dollars. By 2021, the cumulated annual growth rate (CAGR) for Level 4 Semi-autonomous vehicles will be 19%. Longer range projections are needed for Level-5 autonomous vehicles which have not arrived in the marketplace as yet. By 2030, the CAGR forecast for Level-5 vehicles is 41%. All of this is good news for the electronics industry. Which electronic companies are the top players? NXP, Infineon, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments had 1/2 of the market for automotive semiconductors in 2015 and are still market leaders.

Fig. 1. Different Control Units around a vehicle. (more…)