The technology company Continental is cooperating with Infineon in the development of server-based vehicle architectures. The aim is an efficient electrics/electronics architecture with central high-performance computers (HPC) and a few, powerful zone control units (ZCU) instead of hundreds of individual control units. Continental uses the AURIX TC4 microcontroller from Infineon for the ZCU platform.
Thanks to special memory technology in the AURIX TC4, functions such as parking assistance, air conditioning, heating and suspension are available within fractions of a second when the vehicle is started. With its platform approach, Continental supports the different requirements of car manufacturers by individually configuring the number of HPCs and ZCUs and their arrangement in the vehicle.
According to Gilles Mabire, CTO of Continental Automotive, the new architecture enables the software-defined vehicle. With the platform strategy, proven application software can be used in new vehicle models. This reduces the validation effort and new functionalities can be brought into series production much faster.
The third generation of the AURIX microcontroller family, TC4x, offers the same scalability in terms of performance, memory and housing variants as the previous generations TC2x and TC3x. AURIX TC4x was designed for use in ZCU and HPC. Other focus applications are radar, chassis & safety and powertrain/electrification.
A key element is the memory technology RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory) used by Infineon, as used in chip cards for secure authentication. With the AURIX TC4x architecture, essential software programs are virtually always on stand-by. Over-the-air updates are also significantly faster and more secure. According to Peter Schiefer, President of the Automotive Division at Infineon, the cooperation with Continental will bring RRAM technology into the automobile. AURIX TC4x is an important building block for the next generation of E/E architectures.
Zone Control Units are a path to the software-defined vehicle. The delivery of an HPC for the electric vehicles ID.3 and ID.4 from VW was decisive for Continental. The Zone Control Unit ECU platform to be developed forms the middle level of the E/E architecture between the server level and the sensors and actuators. In the upcoming E/E architecture, one zone control unit bundles all electronic and electrical connections in a local sub-area of the vehicle. The cybersecurity concept of AURIX TC4x supports post-quantum procedures and thus strengthens protection against quantum computer attacks. AURIX TC4x fulfills the requirements for functional safety up to ASIL D, according to ISO26262. In addition, AURIX TC4x includes network accelerators to relieve Ethernet and CAN communication as well as 5 Gbit/s ETH, PCIe, 10 Base-T1-S and CAN-XL.
