Chip Makers Roll Out Automotive Processors

Since the 1980s, microprocessors have been a staple of vehicle design. And since that time, cars and trucks have evolved from using simple 4- and 8-bit controllers for engine and braking control, to employing multiple complex processors for a variety of applications. Suspensions, climate controllers, stability controllers, traction controllers, steering systems, dashboard controllers, lighting systems, telematics devices, navigation systems, rear-seat DVDs, databus interfaces and a host of other vehicle systems now employ microprocessors or microcontrollers. By most estimates, the average number of such controllers in the vehicle now varies from 30-70 devices, many of which are of the 16- and 32-bit variety. Moreover, the number of applications for microcontrollers in the vehicle is growing. Below are three of the latest such devices — all introduced this year — from Analog Devices, Freescale Semiconductor and Texas Instruments, aimed at a variety of specific automotive applications.

Click below to read about the new automotive processors:

Analog Devices' bus connectivity processors

Freescale's FlexRay microcontroller

TI's automotive motor control processors