Infineon Supports Global Automotive Standardization Activities; Joins FlexRay and AUTOSAR Initiatives

Infineon has joined the FlexRay® consortium and is now a premium member in the AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) development partnership.

“The growing number and complexity of in-car systems, as well as the demanding requirements for deterministic and secure communication with increased bandwidth, call for global standardization activities such as AUTOSAR and FlexRay,” said Dr. Reinhard Ploss, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Infineon’s Automotive and Industrial business group. “Infineon is fully committed to closely cooperating with car manufacturers, automotive system suppliers and engineering companies on these standards’ implementations to ensure the availability of compliant semiconductor solutions.”

Infineon becomes Premium Member of AUTOSAR

Infineon has become a premium member in the AUTOSAR development partnership, which is active in the standardization of software interfaces and software modules for automotive systems. Infineon’s focus is on the standardization of hardware-dependent software as part of the AUTOSAR architecture framework. After specification, Infineon intends to make the standard-compliant software available for its XC16x family of 16-bit microcontrollers as well as products based on its 32-Bit TriCore™ architecture.

Infineon’s participation in the AUTOSAR partnership further underlines the company’s commitment to closely cooperating with partners along the complete automotive value chain. “The participation of semiconductor partners such as Infineon is absolutely critical for the success of AUTOSAR,” said Prof. Dr. Harald Heinecke, spokesperson of AUTOSAR and General Manager System Architecture Electric/Electronic at BMW. “Having them on board will support to have a first solid draft of standard available by mid 2005 with first series production implementations in 2008 vehicles.”

The AUTOSAR development partnership was announced by leading automotive manufacturers and automotive system suppliers in September 2003 to ensure the establishment of an open standard for automotive electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture that will serve as a basis for the management of functions within both future applications and standard software modules.

Infineon joins FlexRay

Infineon has also joined the FlexRay industry consortium, which drives forward the standardization of an advanced automotive fault-tolerant communication system.

On the basis of Infineon’s extensive experience in secure networks based on time-triggered technology and automotive bus protocols, Infineon expects to provide its first product implementation - a prototype FlexRay protocol controller - in mid 2005.

With additional 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers featuring embedded FlexRay and dedicated to safety and powertrain applications, Infineon will complete its product roadmap for high-speed and secure automotive busses.

FlexRay technology aims to be a standard for innovative high-speed control applications in the car, such as X-by-wire. It consists of electronic hardware and software, and is being called a key feature in future vehicles because it provides a fault tolerant, deterministic solution for such safety-critical applications as braking and steering.

Further information on Infineon’s automotive product portfolio, please go to http://www.infineo … m/automotive

Further information on AUTOSAR is available at http://www.autosar.org

Further information on FlexRay is available at http://www.FlexRay-group.com

The original press release can be found here.