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Automotive Central Switches: The Latest Step in the Evolution of Cars

By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

When you hear people refer to cars as “data centers on wheels,” they’re usually thinking about how an individual experiences enhanced digital capabilities in a car, such as streaming media on-demand or new software-defined services for enhancing the driving experience.

But there’s an important implication lurking behind the statement. For cars to take on tasks that require data center-like versatility, they need to be built like data centers. Automakers in conjunction with hardware makers and software developers are going to have to develop a portfolio of highly specialized technologies that work together, based around similar architectural concepts, to deliver the capabilities needed for the software-defined vehicle while at the same time keeping power and cost to a minimum. It’s not an easy balancing act.

Which brings us to the emergence of a new category of products for the zonal architecture, specifically zonal and the associated automotive central Ethernet switches. Today’s car networks are built around domain localized networks: speakers, video screens and other infotainment devices link to the infotainment ECU, while powertrain and brakes are part of the body domain, and ADAS domain is based on the sensors and high-performance processors. Bandwidth and security can be form-fitted to the application.

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Software-Defined Networking for the Software-Defined Vehicle

By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

and John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer, Sonatus

and Simon Edelhaus, VP SW, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

The software-defined vehicle (SDV) is one of the newest and most interesting megatrends in the automotive industry. As we discussed in a previous blog, the reason that this new architectural—and business—model will be successful is the advantages it offers to all stakeholders:

  • The OEMs (car manufacturers) will gain new revenue streams from aftermarket services and new applications;
  • The car owners will easily upgrade their vehicle features and functions; and
  • The mobile operators will profit from increased vehicle data consumption driven by new applications.

What is a software-defined vehicle? While there is no official definition, the term reflects the change in the way software is being used in vehicle design to enable flexibility and extensibility. To better understand the software-defined vehicle, it helps to first examine the current approach.

Today’s embedded control units (ECUs) that manage car functions do include software, however, the software in each ECU is often incompatible with and isolated from other modules. When updates are required, the vehicle owner must visit the dealer service center, which inconveniences the owner and is costly for the manufacturer.

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The Right Stuff: A Past and Future History of Automotive Connectivity

By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

and Mark Davis, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing, Marvell

In the blog, Back to the Future – Automotive network run at speed of 10Gbps, we discussed the benefits and advantages of zonal architecture and why OEMs are adopting it for their next-generation vehicles. One of the biggest advantages of zonal architecture is its ability to reduce the complexity, cost and weight of the cable harness. In another blog, Ethernet Camera Bridge for Software-Defined Vehicles, we discussed the software-defined vehicle, and how using Ethernet from end-to-end helps to make that vehicle a reality.

While in the near future most devices in the car will be connected through zonal switches, cameras are the exception. They will continue to connect to processors over point-to-point protocol (P2PP) links using proprietary networking protocols such as low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS), Maxim’s GMSL or TI’s FPD-Link.

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Ethernet Camera Bridge for Software-Defined Vehicles

By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

Automotive Transformation

Smart Car and Data Center-on-wheels are just some of the terms being used to define the exciting new waves of technology transforming the automotive industry and promising safer, greener self-driving cars and enhanced user experiences. Underpinning it all is a megatrend towards Software-defined Vehicles (SDV). SDV is not just a new automotive technology platform. It also enables a new business model for automotive OEMs. With a software-centric architecture, car makers will have an innovation platform to generate unprecedented streams of revenue from aftermarket services and new applications. For owners, the capability to receive over-the-air software updates for vehicles already on the road – as easily as smartphones are updated – means an automobile whose utility will no longer decline over time and driving experiences that can be continuously improved over time.

This blog is the first in a series of blogs that will discuss the basic components of a system that will enable the future of SDV.

Road to SDV is Paved with Ethernet

A key technology to enable SDVs is a computing platform that is supported by an Ethernet-based In-Vehicle network (IVN). An Ethernet-based IVN provides the ability to reshape the traffic between every system in the car to help meet the requirements of new downloaded applications. To gain the full potential of Ethernet-based IVNs, the nodes within the car will need to “talk” Ethernet. This includes devices such as car sensors and cameras. In this blog, we discuss the characteristics and main components that will drive the creation of this advanced Ethernet-based IVN, which will enable this new era of SDV. 

But first let’s talk about the promises of this new business model. For example, people might ask, “how many new applications can possibly be created for cars and who will use them?” This is probably the same question that was asked when Apple created the original AppStore, which started with dozens of new apps, and now of course, the rest is history. We can definitely learn from this model. Plus, this is not going to be just an OEM play. Once SDV cars are on the road, we should expect the emergence of new companies that will develop for the OEMs a whole new world of car applications that will be aligned with other megatrends like Smart City, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Ride-hailing and many others. 

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Back to the Future – Automotive network run at speed of 10Gbps

By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell

In the classic 1980s “Back to the Future” movie trilogy, Doc Brown – inventor of the DeLorean time machine – declares that “your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.” At Marvell, engineers are doing just that by accelerating automotive Ethernet capabilities: Earlier this week, Marvell announced the latest addition to its automotive products portfolio – the 88Q4346 802.3ch-based multi-gig automotive Ethernet PHY.

This technology addresses three emerging automotive trends requiring multi-gig Ethernet speeds, including:

  1. The increasing integration of high-resolution cameras and sensors
  2. Growing utilization of powerful 5G networks
  3. The rise of Zonal Architecture in car design
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