RISC-V for cars: Infineon announces microcontroller with new computing cores
In future, the market leader in microcontrollers for vehicles will also rely on the open instruction set architecture RISC-V, which competes with ARM cores.
(Image: Infineon)
Infineon is increasingly focusing on the open processor instruction set architecture RISC-V. Over the next few years, the manufacturer intends to launch a complete microcontroller portfolio with RISC-V technology under the brand name Aurix –, ranging from entry-level to high-end models. Infineon is announcing a virtual prototype of an Aurix microcontroller for the embedded world 2025 trade fair in Nuremberg.
This is an important milestone for the disclosed instruction set architecture, as Infineon is the largest European chip manufacturer and leads the automotive microcontroller market with a share of almost 29 percent.
Chips from the Infineon Aurix series are also used in safety-critical areas such as the control of engines, brakes, and stability systems. To date, Infineon has used its own TriCore technology in its Aurix chips. “In the coming years”, RISC-V cores will be added. Infineon has not yet revealed the exact structure of these cores.
In addition to the Aurix microcontrollers, Infineon also manufactures the PSOC and Travego series, the latter with ARM Cortex cores.
Open instruction set architecture
The special feature of RISC-V is the standardized and open instruction set architecture (ISA). This means that there is no specific microarchitecture; instead, there are numerous implementations of the RISC-V ISA. Microcontrollers mostly use the 32-bit version RV32, while microprocessors use the 64-bit version RV64.
Infineon has been working on RISC-V technology since at least 2020 when the Scale4Edge project was launched. In 2023, Infineon founded the company Quintauris together with Bosch, NXP, Qualcomm, and Nordic Semiconductor to promote RISC-V technology in Europe.
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Change in automotive electronics
Automotive electronics have been undergoing fundamental change for some years now. More and more sensors and digital (assistance) functions are being added, and car brands also want to earn money from options that can be retrofitted via software. Cars require ever greater computing power and are networked via mobile communications, which is why protection against cyberattacks must also be strengthened. This also includes fast and secure software updates via mobile communications.
These requirements can only be reconciled with reasonable costs through greater centralization of vehicle electronics. There is therefore a trend towards installing fewer electronic control units (ECUs), but more powerful, more complex and more efficient bus systems and interfaces. This restructuring of automotive electronics is opening up market opportunities for new chips.
(ciw)
