Latest solutions for smart driving displayed at AUTOMOTIVE WORLD

Advanced sensing technology has a vital role to play in ensuring high levels of safety and comfort in autonomous driving and ADAS technology.

This image sensor uses infrared light and removes external influences such as sunlight and streetlights, to detect in-cabin activity. As a result, it contributes to enabling new functions including monitors that can clearly display the drivers and passengers and identify the degree of driver concentration and passenger comfort.

The industry is also seeing the adoption of 'connected cars' that enable interaction with external elements such as cloud servers and roadside infrastructure. The ST booth featured a demonstration of firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) transmission using an automotive processor equipped with a dedicated hardware security module (HSM) that is both powerful and independent.

In this demonstration, visitors saw a gateway unit containing ST’s automotive processor and telematics-box update firmware received wirelessly and securely from a cloud server on its electronic control unit (ECU).

The ST booth included a zone devoted to automotive 32-bit microcontrollers at the heart of a range of ECUs. Here, comprehensive demonstrations combine interior touch displays, motor control, NFC onboard smart keys, mirrors equipped with cameras, and a FOTA unit with a domain controller and gateway.

ST’s Power Architecture-based 32-bit microcontroller family features many communication channels matching automotive network standards such as CAN-FD and Ethernet. They are suitable for the construction of automotive network systems thanks to their support for built-in HSMs and ability to handle OTA systems or monitoring functions during standby.

The spread of EVs and HEVs is being accompanied by the need for further improvement of electric power efficiency in automotive systems.

At AUTOMOTIVE WORLD 2019, ST demonstrated a traction inverter based on a power MOSFET that uses silicon carbide (SiC), a next-generation semiconductor material. In this demonstration, actual tires are driven using a reference design for a traction inverter that integrates ST’s SiC power MOSFET, a galvanic isolation gate driver, an automotive 32-bit microcontroller, and a range of other components.

In EV/HEV battery charging, manufacturers are working to downsize units and accelerate charging. ST showed its solution for onboard chargers, featuring AC-DC and DC-DC converter circuits and comprised of a power MOSFET, IGBT, diodes, thyristors, and an automotive 32-bit microcontroller. A wide choice of device performance and package options enables ST to offer optimal onboard-charger solutions that meet the conflicting requirements of smaller size and greater capacity.