The reports are coming in now that Apple is working on self-driving car technology in support of developing shuttle buses – not unlike the dozen or so other companies like Local Motors and Navya working on the same idea. The message is clear that the only way to reduce traffic and congestion is to get human beings to pack themselves… Read More
Tuning in to Tesla Radio
The rumor is spreading far and wide that Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk is talking with major record labels about creating a streaming audio service dedicated to Tesla vehicles. The widespread industry reaction is head scratching and eye rolling at what is seen as the latest chapter in the Musk follies – Solar City, Model 3, Autopilot,… Read More
Why I remain optimistic about Tesla
Tesla’s stock price recently took a hit because of concerns about its delivery capabilities and about increasing competition from carmakers who are switching their product lines to electric. With a market cap still exceeding $50 billion, it can be easy to argue that Tesla’s price remains severely inflated, especially when you… Read More
Automotive IC Design Requires a Unique EDA Tool Emphasis
Semiwiki readers are no doubt very familiar with the increasing impact of the automotive market on the semiconductor industry. The magnitude and complexity of the electronic systems that will be integrated into upcoming vehicle designs reflects the driver automation, safety, and entertainment features that are in growing… Read More
Overcoming Mixed-Signal Design and Verification Challenges in Automotive and IoT Systems
At the recent DAC conference in Austin I attended a panel discussion over lunch where engineers from four companies talked about how they approached mixed-signal design and verification challenges for automotive and IoT systems. It seems like 2017 was the year of automotive at DAC, while in 2016 it was all about IoT. Both segments… Read More
Your Car Sucks Data
“Cars Suck up Data about You. Where Does It All Go?” This was the ill-informed headline in the NYTimes last month. The headline echoes the thoughts of Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich (“Just one autonomous car will use 4,000 GB of data/day” – NetworkWorld) and Barclay’s Brian Johnson (“An… Read More
Automotive System Reliability – ISO 26262 impacts IP and Tools
If you have been following the topic of ISO 26262, you now realize that IP, or even EDA design tools, developed with the highest quality standards still can’t be ISO 26262 certified. Recently I had a conversation with Kurt Shuler from Arteris about this topic. He is VP of Marketing at Arteris, and he is also on several ISO 26262 technical… Read More
A Functional Safety Primer for FPGA – and the Rest of Us
Once in a while I come across a vendor-developed webinar which is so generally useful it deserves to be shared beyond the confines of sponsored sites. I don’t consider this spamming – if you choose you can ignore the vendor-specific part of the webinar and still derive significant value from the rest. In this instance, the topic is… Read More
Connected Car as Data Access Battleground
The big news over the weekend was accusations flying in Europe over German car company anti-competitive collusion. While it’s true that European companies of all sorts are able and inclined to legally share information in a manner that is foreign to U.S.-based companies, proving anti-competitive activity will be a high bar for… Read More
Seeking Autonomy
I’d wager that if I mention autonomous vehicles, the first thing that you would think of would be autonomous cars. The truth is that we will see many other kinds autonomous vehicles in the years ahead. Their applications will range from package delivery to saving lives on the battlefield. Of course, to some extent they are already… Read More
Selling the Forges of the Future: U.S. Report Exposes China’s Reliance on Western Chip Tools