The main goal of autonomous driving is to eliminate accidents caused by human error. In fully autonomous vehicles, reverting to driver control in the event of a system failure is not an option; there is no driver and no manual controls provided to take over. Safety-critical systems must act, instead of using a “human fallback system” as a failsafe. Although this can be achieved through full redundancy of systems, alternative architectures that minimize the duplication of functions and systems are needed to avoid added cost and weight.

Advanced wireless IoT applications such as machine vision, industrial HMI, audio/voice systems, and more, require an integrated hardware and software solution that can provide multiprocessing and industrial-grade features in a secure architecture.

As an embedded developer, does a “common platform” reduce your ability to innovate?

Another trade show is in the books, and I’m pleased to report things are about as back to normal as they are likely to get. The show I’m referring to is electronica, which is held bi-annually in Munich, Germany. As such, it’s been four years since we’ve convened at what it is generally considered the world’s largest event for the embedded and electronics industries.

Applications deployed in today’s smart homes, smart factories, and smart cities demand smart microcontrollers.

Electronica, MUNICH, Germany, November 15, 2022 -- As we globally move towards more modern and clean energy resources, NXP Semiconductors is meeting the needs of today’s electrification applications with the new S32K39 series of automotive microcontrollers (MCUs) designed for high-precision traction inverters in electric vehicle control applications.

MUNICH, Germany. NXP Semiconductors released its NXP analog front-end platform (N-AFE) family developed for software configuration with eight universal analog input components that supply reliable transfer of data and the ability to monitor ecosystems within factory automation. “Software-defined factories are the next evolution of the Industry 4.0, and this software-configurable analog front-end family will help achieve that milestone,” said Jens Hinrichsen, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Analog at NXP.