Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Automotive
The U.S. Congress passed an infrastructure bill that includes mandates for the U.S. automobiles to install technology in new vehicles that will stop impaired drivers from driving a vehicle. Sec. 24220, the advanced impaired driving technology section of the bill says the Secretary of Transportation is responsible for coming up with standards after which the auto industry has at the most three years to comply. According to the bill, 1/3 of the automotive deaths (10,142 fatalities in 2019) were caused by drunk drivers, but technology could prevent at least 9,000 a year. Other goodies in the bill fund installation of electric vehicle charging stations that use non-proprietary standard charging interfaces.

U.S. electric truck and SUV company Rivian went public this week on the Nasdaq under ticker RIVN. The company’s market worth is $100 billion after Thursday, when shares traded at $122.99 by end of day, even though the company’s electric trucks and SUVs have yet to be released (working models have been made). Ford Motor Company, Amazon, and T. Rowe Price, among others, have invested in the company.

The chip shortage has forced BMW to not use touchscreens in some new cars and offer $500 off the car price.

Panasonic Automotive, which achieved ISO 26262 ASIL-D process certification from UL, used Ansys’ modeling and analysis tool, medini analyze, to streamline functional safety analysis.

Schaeffler, an automotive and industrial supplier, implemented Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Additive Manufacturing (AM) Network platform in its additive manufacturing workflows. The cloud-native AM Network guides R&D designers and engineers through the AM part qualification process.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) announced it has developed a new version of spin orbit torque magnetic random-access memory (SOT-MRAM) that is so fast it could be suitable for use in self-driving cars.

Pervasive computing, 5G
The GSMA, which runs the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show in Barcelona, formed an accelerator initiative to inform people about 5G mmWave. The first stage will be completed by February 2022 in time for MWC.

Samsung Electronics unveiled its Hybrid-Substrate Cube (H-Cube), a 2.5D packaging solution it designed with Amkor for use on semiconductors for HPC, AI, data center and network products that require high-performance and large-area packaging technology.

Companies, people
Chiang Shang-Yi has resigned from Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) as company vice chairman. Read more here.

Four Semicon events are going back to meeting in-person after nearly two years off.  

• SEMICON Europa 2021 – Messe Munchen, Munich, Germany – Nov. 16-19
• SEMICON West Hybrid 2021 – Moscone Center, San Francisco, California – Dec. 7-9
• SEMICON Japan Hybrid 2021 – Tokyo Big Site, Tokyo, Japan – Dec. 15-17
• SEMICON Taiwan 2021 – Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1 (TaiNEX 1), Taipei, Taiwan – Dec. 28-30 

Flex Logix is opening an office in Austin, Texas. KLA opened its second headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Read more news at Manufacturing, Test and Design, Low Power.

More to check out on Semiconductor Engineering:

• Read the latest Automotive, Security, & Pervasive Computing newsletter.
• Find industry jobs and upcoming conferences and webinars.
• Boost your semiconductor industry knowledge.
• Check out the Semiconductor Engineering video library.