Waymo Collides with Transparency

Waymo Collides with Transparency
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-03-2022 at 10:00 am

Waymo Collides with Transparency

Anyone looking to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to forthrightly assert a path-setting policy vision to guide autonomous vehicle development in the U.S. during his CES 2022 keynote was sorely disappointed. There was no guidance from the Secretary.

The issue has gained new urgency now that Waymo has sued the California… Read More


Musk: Colossus of Roads, with Achilles’​ Heel

Musk: Colossus of Roads, with Achilles’​ Heel
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-23-2022 at 8:00 am

Elon Musk Achilles Heel 1

For Tesla, 2021 was an amazing year. A blindspot looms in 2022.

Critics cheered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for opening multiple investigations into fatal and near fatal Tesla crashes.  Legislators decried the de facto beta testing of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta on public roads. And in December,… Read More


High-Speed Data Converters Accelerating Automotive and 5G Products

High-Speed Data Converters Accelerating Automotive and 5G Products
by Kalar Rajendiran on 11-10-2021 at 10:00 am

Enabling Technology Omni Design SWIFT

While the trend towards System-on-Chip (SoC) has been gathering momentum for quite some time, the primary driver has been integration of digital components, spurred by Moore’s law. Integrating more and more digital circuitry into a single chip has been consistently beneficial for performance, power, form factor and economic… Read More


Yep – It’s Still an Analog World in this Digital Age

Yep – It’s Still an Analog World in this Digital Age
by Daniel Nenni on 11-02-2021 at 6:00 am

Fig 1 Omni Design Blog 271021

With all the advances in digital technology to serve mankind’s insatiable appetite for automation, it’s easy to lose sight of the reality that we still live in an analog world.  It’s easy to take for granted that somewhere in the chain of events that takes place in the process of applying state-of-the-art computational technology… Read More


High Reliability Power Management Chip Simulation and Verification for Automotive Electronics

High Reliability Power Management Chip Simulation and Verification for Automotive Electronics
by Daniel Payne on 10-11-2021 at 10:00 am

iWave waveform min

Automotive electronics bring strong demand for power management chips, but its strict reliability requirements also pose new challenges for chip designers. The chip needs to be able to work in various harsh environments such as high temperature, low temperature, aging, abnormal power supply, etc. Although the traditional… Read More


Heterogeneous Package Design Challenges for ADAS

Heterogeneous Package Design Challenges for ADAS
by Tom Simon on 10-04-2021 at 10:00 am

Hetergeneous Package Design

Increasingly complex heterogeneous packaging solutions have proved essential to meeting the rapidly scaling requirements for automotive electronics. Perhaps there is no better example of this than advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) that are found in most new cars. In a recent paper published by Siemens EDA, they … Read More


Auto Semiconductor Shortage Worsens

Auto Semiconductor Shortage Worsens
by Bill Jewell on 09-29-2021 at 2:00 pm

Sep 2021 fcst

The shortage of semiconductors for automotive applications is getting  worse. Recent statements from major automakers:

  • General Motors significantly cut production at eight North American plants earlier this month due to the semiconductor shortage. GM expects North American vehicle production in the second half of the year
Read More

LiDAR and the End of the Musk Marketing Masque

LiDAR and the End of the Musk Marketing Masque
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-19-2021 at 6:00 am

LiDAR and the End of the Musk Marketing Masque

One of the key differentiating characteristics of companies working on autonomous vehicles is the willingness to explain or disclose the manner in which this technology works. Tesla and Mobileye have been standouts in the explainer category.  Companies like Waymo and Cruise have been less distinguished.

Tesla, though, … Read More


GM Fires First 5G Shot

GM Fires First 5G Shot
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-29-2021 at 10:00 am

GM Fires First 5G Shot

Connecting cars remains one of the most unnatural acts in the world of IoT. “Connected Car” headlines might make you think otherwise, but the reality is that precious few cars on the road today are connected with a live, provisioned and functioning wireless connection. That being said, General Motors claims 16M of those cars

Read More

Are We Done with ICE Vehicles?

Are We Done with ICE Vehicles?
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-22-2021 at 10:00 am

Are We Done with ICE Vehicles?

U.S. President Joe Biden served notice on the automotive industry that he expects auto makers to shift 50% of vehicle sales to those with electric power trains by 2030. Of course, he included plug-in hybrids in the mix – perhaps in deference to Toyota – and Tesla was oddly absent from the announcement made on the South… Read More