With the development of smart cars, users continue to put forward newer requirements for the safety, stability, and intelligence of cars. The realization of various vehicle functions requires the stable support of complex chipsets and algorithms, and MCUs will play a greater role.
What is an automotive microcontroller?
Automotive microcontrollers, also known as MCUs, are the core components of automotive electrical control systems. MCU must have good high-temperature performance and stability to control all electronic systems in the car, including multimedia, audio, navigation, suspension, etc. Compared with ordinary MCUs, automotive MCUs have higher quality requirements and are less likely to damage cars in complex environments. Generally speaking, the most important thing is reliability and temperature range. Civilian grade is 0-70℃, industrial grade is 20-85℃, and automotive grade is 40-85℃.
MCU will become an important part of the “car brain” and the intelligent brain of the car, playing the core functions of “thinking, calculation and control”. As the automotive electronic and electrical architecture evolves towards centralized, MCUs not only need to continue to undertake the functions of collecting, converting and transmitting high-dimensional data such as color information and spatial information, but also need to assume the role of core intelligent decision-making and control.
Features of automotive MCUs:
High processing performance, large number of network node processing capabilities, and extensive interface support capabilities:
High processing performance: To improve the processing performance of an MCU, you must start with its core and software and hardware system architecture.
Large number of network node processing capabilities: CAN networks in today’s automobiles have a large number of built-in ECUs. The size of these ECUs continues to increase with the increase in the number of nodes, so the automotive MCU must support more message buffers.
Extensive interface support capabilities: Automotive MCUs connect to a wide variety of peripherals, and the interfaces may be UART, frequency synchronous serial, LIN-UART and I2C, so they must have flexible interface connection capabilities.
Classification of automotive MCUs
Category 1: Purpose of use
| General purpose | Special purpose |
| Read-only memory microcontroller | Hardware and instructions |
| Memory | Central recording controller |
| Voice input/output | Broadcast controller |
| EPROM | Motor Controller |
Category 2: Number of data bits
The chips used in automotive MCUs are divided into 8-bit MCUs, 16-bit MCUs, and 32-bit MCUs, which can be used in different performance scenarios according to the different needs of automotive electronics.
| Type | Main feature | Market price |
| 8-bit microcontroller | small low cost low power | < 1 USD |
| 16-bit microcontroller | More powerful processing power Handle more complex tasks | $1-$5 |
| 32-bit microcontroller | High performance microcontroller | $5-$10, some high-end products exceed $10 |
Main application:
8-bit microcontroller:
Mainly used in various subsystems of the body, including fan control, air conditioning control, wipers, sunroof, window lift, lower-level instrument panel, wheel hub box, seat control, door control module and other lower-level control functions.
16-bit microcontroller:
The main applications are powertrain systems, such as engine control, gear and clutch control, and electronic turbine systems; it is also suitable for chassis mechanisms, such as suspension systems, electronic power steering, torque dispersion control, electronic pumps, electronic brakes, etc.
32-bit microcontroller:
Key applications include instrument panel control, body control, multimedia information systems (Telematics), engine control, and emerging intelligent and real-time safety systems and powertrains, such as pre-crash, adaptive cruise control (ACC), Driver assistance systems, electronic stability programs and other safety features, as well as sophisticated transmission functions such as drive-by-wire. In various systems of automotive electronics, automotive MCUs (automotive microcontrollers) are often required as the core of calculation and control. The reliance of automobiles on electronic systems has stimulated the rapid growth of the automotive microcontroller market. The applications of automotive electronic systems are becoming more and more complex, and automotive MCUs are playing an increasingly important role.
