Automotive OEMs Focus On SDVs, Zonal Architectures


Giant automotive OEMs are re-evaluating how quickly to move to advanced technologies and software-driven designs amid crushing financial pressure from low-cost EVs developed in other markets such as China. U.S., European, and Japanese OEMs have been struggling for the past half-decade or so to figure out which is the best approach to developing EVs, undergoing multiple shifts in both hardwar... » read more

The Path Toward Future Automotive EE Architectures


From a semiconductor market perspective, all eyes are on the automotive domain. According to Gartner, as of 2023, the automotive market is now its second-largest segment, with about 14% of the demand. Only smartphones consume more. As I mused last month in "Automotive Semiconductor March Madness 2024," those who made a bet on automotive a decade or longer ago are pretty happy these days. Still,... » read more

Easing Automotive Software Migration


The automotive industry is on the cusp of seismic change. Multiple trends are occurring simultaneously that are impacting the entire supply chain of the industry. Software-defined vehicles (SDVs), autonomy and electrification are motivating automotive OEMs to holistically rethink the vehicle’s software and hardware development cycles. To better manage multiple compute elements and increasi... » read more

What Is Zonal Architecture? And Why Is it Upending the Automotive Supply Chain?


Over the last few years, the basic architecture of how a vehicle is put together has changed a lot. This has also resulted in a change in how the automotive supply chain is put together, too. The traditional ECU-based architecture and the automobile supply chain Historically, vehicles have been put together like the picture on the left in the above diagram. Vehicles could have as many a... » read more