CARIAD, the software unit of Volkswagen Group, and STMicroelectronics are looking forward to launching the joint development of an automotive system-on-chip (SoC) shortly.
Both parties are developing the tailored hardware for connectivity, energy management, and over-the-air updates making vehicles fully software-defined, secure, and future-proof. Targeting the new generation of Volkswagen Group vehicles this partnership is moving to agree that TSMC will manufacture the SoC wafers for ST.
CARIAD is aiming to secure the chip supply for the Volkswagen Group’s cars in advance and will enter into direct relationships with semiconductor suppliers at the Tier 2 and Tier 3-level.
Murat Aksel, Volkswagen Group’s Board Member for Purchasing said, “With the planned direct cooperation with ST and TSMC, we are actively shaping our entire semiconductor supply chain. In this way, we are setting new standards in strategic supply chain management.”
ARIAD CEO Dirk Hilgenberg added, “With the co-development of the system-on-chip with ST ahead of us, we are consistently pursuing our semiconductor strategy. The SoC we are designing will be optimally matched to our software – without compromise. The use of a single, optimised architecture in all Volkswagen electronic control units will give us an enormous boost for the efficient development of our software platform.”
The new SoC aims to complement ST’s high-performance Stellar microcontroller family by extending its power-efficient real-time capabilities to service-oriented environments. CARIAD is contributing its specific target requirements and functionalities for the Volkswagen Group vehicles and will help extend the architecture of ST’s 32-bit Stellar Automotive microcontroller.
CARIAD CTO Lynn Longo said, “This is just the first step. In the future, we also aim to enter into co-development of high-performance semiconductors for complex functions.”
