Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Automotive And Mobility

Two major auto OEMs revealed new electric vehicle models this week. The Audi Q8 e-tron has 40 driver assistance systems including five radar sensors, five cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, and comes with either an 89 net kilowatt-hour battery or a 106 net kilowatt-hour battery. It arrives in the U.S. in April 2023. The Volvo EX90 contains both lidar and 5G connectivity as a standard feature and the hardware to enable bidirectional charging. Deliveries are expected to begin in early 2024.

Lidar companies Velodyne and Ouster announced a merger, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023. The companies said the transaction will allow a cost savings of $75 million within nine months after the transaction closes as a result of “operational expenditure synergies.” The combined third quarter cash balance of both companies is about $355 million.

Infineon collaborated with Ree Automotive on the Ree Modular Electric Vehicle platform. The product uses as many as 11 Infineon microcontrollers, as well as Infineon MOSFETs, power supply ICs, magnetic sensors, and other Infineon components. “Innovative and modular EV platform designs add new options for both established and emerging industry players to further accelerate electromobility,” said Peter Schiefer, president of Infineon’s automotive division.

A series of “weird” incidents involving self-driving cars reveals the challenges of overcoming glitches and consumer reluctance. Read more here.

Security

A Congressional report found that the country’s health care sector is “uniquely vulnerable” to cyber attacks. The report, released by the office of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, states that health care-related cyber attacks affected more than 45 million people last year. The report outlines several policies under consideration, including stockpiling analog equivalent medical devices and walkie-talkies for use by hospitals facing cyber attacks.

Riscure is working with PQShield on post-quantum cryptography side-channel analysis validation.

Codasip bought Cerberus, a U.K.-based IoT security company. The deal provides Codasip with security IP, as well as expertise in security design.

Two papers offer intriguing perspectives on hardware security primitives. In a paper scheduled to appear at ASP-DAC 2023, researchers proposed novel implementations of physical unclonable function (PUF) and true random number generators (TRNGs) on the RRAM crossbar structure. In another paper, researchers generated cryptographic keys using flash-based hardware security primitives by exploiting the variability of tunneling electrons in the floating gate.

Pervasive Computing

Garmin unveiled a new smartwatch with a battery that can run on solar power for up to 70 days. The Instinct Crossover is operational for about a month without solar charging.

Arm announced several collaborations aimed at IoT development. The company said Arm cross-compiler and Arm Virtual Hardware are now integrated into GitHub Actions, while Queexo and Nota AI integrated Arm Virtual Hardware into their respective platforms. In a separate announcement, Arm said MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9200 SoC marks the first implementation of the full Arm TCS22 on TSMC 4nm.

Samsung teamed up with Amazon to simplify the setup of devices using the Matter interface. Matter is a standard way to set up and control devices in the home, initially, although there are ongoing discussions about moving the interface into other domains.

Flex Logix‘s embedded FPGA IP core is now available on TSMC‘s 7nm process. 

Upcoming Events

Nov. 14-17, Supercomputing SC22, Dallas, TX

Nov. 15-18, Semicon Europa, Munich, Germany (co-located with electronica)

Nov. 21-22, CadenceLive Europe 2022, Munich, Germany

Nov. 27-Dec. 8, Materials Research Society Meeting, Boston, MA and virtual

Nov. 29-30, Synopsys Memory Technology Symposium, virtual

Dec. 3-Dec. 7, IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), San Francisco, CA with on-demand component

Dec. 6-Dec. 7, DVCon Europe 2022, Munich, Germany

Find more events here.

In Case You Missed It

Check out the Auto, Security & Pervasive Computing newsletter for these highlights and more:

• Memory-based cyberattacks become more complex, difficult to detect
• AI feed vision processor, image sensor boom
• Post-quantum and pre-quantum security issues grow

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