Evolving automotive system architecture creates new demands for flash memory

This is the first in a series of articles about car storage. In this article, we’ll look at how automotive architecture has evolved and how that evolution impacts today’s data storage solutions. We all know that automotive electronics is facing unprecedented changes. The development of new energy and autonomous driving technologies , upgrades of cabin entertainment systems, streaming entertainment, networking functions, software-defined cars, fleet management, and changes in all terminal requirements are challenging the latest automotive trends. The design of the underlying electronic and electrical architecture has prompted an unprecedented amount of cooperation between the automotive industry and the semiconductor industry.

Vast amounts of data flow to advanced automotive systems

Over the years, autonomous driving systems have increasingly adopted camera, lidar and radar technologies . These sensors introduce a large amount of data from the edge of the car. This raw data needs to be processed in real time to provide precise driving decisions for the vehicle. At the same time, these data will be transmitted to the infotainment system for real-time interaction , such as reversing imaging, panoramic monitoring system or driving monitoring system. Finally , the time and attention saved by the automatic driving assistance system will allow the driver and passengers to communicate with each other. More attention is paid to in-car entertainment, such as Tesla’s central entertainment system that can play AAA game masterpieces. All these evolutions have led to a significant increase in the amount of data transmission in the car, the number of electronic control units (ECUs) , the computing power of the chip , and of course the storage requirements . The cost of integrating many components has increased and the need for more electronic control units (ECUs) has increased significantly . The heavy verification work of ECU ) has forced automakers and Tier1 to consider how to redesign the electrical / electronic architecture of modern vehicles ( Figure 1 ) .

( Figure 1 ) The digitization of automobiles generates a large amount of data, and the architecture is undergoing transformation

How does the evolution of automotive electronic and electrical architecture drive up storage demand ?

While automotive semiconductors are one of the most important drivers of future semiconductor market growth, people often wonder: "What about NAND flash storage?" Industry experts estimate that the NAND flash memory market will grow to $ 5 billion by 2028 , and It's only $ 2 billion in 2023 , but many are skeptical as they wonder what opportunity could spark such explosive growth. The answer is actually implicit in the first paragraph of our article, which is the terminal application of smart cars. But in order to answer this question more professionally and carefully, we will conduct a detailed disassembly based on the electrical / electronic architecture of the car. The electrical / electronic architecture of the car design The electronic architecture is very complex, and it may take three to five years from design to verification to mass production. In fact, the design of the architecture is different between each company, but since 2020 , more and more architecture designs have turned to Domain Centralized Architecture ( Figure 2) .

( Figure 2 ) The four subsystems in the domain control centralized architecture all have potential storage needs.

This architecture integrates numerous electronic control units ( ECUs ) into a single domain controller (Domain Controller) . Each domain controller is responsible for specific functions in the vehicle , such as autonomous driving, cabin entertainment, or power and body control. This helps reduce wiring harnesses , streamline vendor management and verification complexity, save costs, and free up space and weight, while at the same time — improving storage integration and capacity , speed, and reliability requirements as we know it. The larger the capacity in a storage device , the more complex its management is. In particular , the error correction capability needs to be further improved to increase the reliability of the storage device. Here, the main control algorithm and the testing and verification experience of the solution provider are particularly important. , we will discuss this in detail in a later article . Now, let ’s further discuss the needs and applications of on-board storage devices.

For those who are skeptical about future in -vehicle storage opportunities , consider the following facts. A vehicle will require three to five storage units. Assuming 80 million cars sold annually (in terms of shipments), unit sales of storage devices could eventually exceed annual deliveries of laptops. Although there is still a gap in capacity requirements and the transformation of the architecture will take several years , this is still an absolutely huge market opportunity in the future .

An in-depth discussion of the vehicle-mounted terminal applications faced by storage solutions

What kind of vehicle terminal applications will the NAND flash memory storage solution in the car be used for? We divide the applications of on-board storage devices into four categories.

• Telematics Control Unit ( TCU, T-Box, Telematics Control Unit )

Telematics control units are a combination of telecommunications and information science. The vehicle's remote control unit is the central hub for all information wirelessly connected to the vehicle. It enables over-the-air updates ( OTA ), rapid remote response to incidents (e.g. using eCALL technology), fleet management and remote diagnostics. In the future , when remote control units are integrated with 5G , vehicles can communicate with roadside units ( RSUs ), other vehicles, pedestrians and drivers . This communication capability is called V2X (Vehicle to Everything) , which means vehicle-to-everything communication. We believe this will be the way to realize connected cars in the future. In addition, the reliability and functionality of ADAS will be further enhanced because of the control of the environment and other connected objects . Global shipments of remote control units exceed 50 million units per year and are rising. For storage needs , typical requirements are less than or equal to 16GB of eMMC because they typically require relatively small capacities .

• Cockpit Domain Controller ( CDC, Cockpit Domain Controller )

Many people often fail to distinguish the terminology difference between CDC and traditional infotainment system ( Traditional IVI ). In fact, CDC is a subsystem under the domain control centralized architecture. By definition, its hardware system must integrate all infotainment functions in the cabin, including the instrument panel, head-up display ( HUD ), voice recognition and central infotainment system. At the same time, it needs to be compatible with multiple virtual machines and operating systems. Currently, industry experts estimate that less than 15% of mass-produced vehicles are equipped with such a system. However, when we discuss CDC and traditional infotainment systems as a whole, together they are actually the largest application in the entire automotive storage market, accounting for more than 80% of NAND flash bit requirements. In this application, storage technologies ranging from eMMC , UFS to PCIe SSD have opportunities, and the application capacity ranges from 16GB to 256GB , depending on the level of the car model and the richness of the application.

• Advanced Driver-assistance System Domain Controller ( ADC, Advanced Driver-assistance System Domain Controller )

Advanced driver assistance system ( ADAS ) technology involves many issues such as safety, regulations and driver acceptance, resulting in its development being steady but slow . However, it is the most discussed technical issue in recent years and an irreversible trend in the automotive industry. Currently, eMMC is still the mainstream storage requirement, but as data transfer rates increase, we are also seeing more and more designs based on UFS storage solutions. At present, the demand for flash memory bits is second only to the cockpit and infotainment fields. Looking to the future, with the development of this technology, we predict that it will become the fastest growing field of storage demand in the next few years.

• Central Gateway ​

As the data exchange hub of the vehicle network, the central gateway converts different communication protocols in the vehicle ( such as LIN, CAN, FlexRay, Ethernet, etc. ) , and exchanges data between different functional domains , providing physical isolation and at the same time Responsible for the car’s cybersecurity capabilities. Applications include EDR , vehicle diagnosis, fleet management, network security management and OTA update management. Sometimes it even integrates the functionality of a body management domain controller. Generally speaking, eMMC is the mainstream storage solution, but in fleet management of commercial vehicles, high-capacity PCIe SSDs are often used .

Phison Electronics - the solution provider that best understands vehicle storage

As automotive technology relies more on data than ever before, first-tier suppliers (Tier1) and vehicle manufacturers have successively developed domain control centralized architectures. The applications addressed by this architecture require more, faster, and more reliable flash data storage solutions, an area that will see incredible growth in the near future.

这就是为什么 群联电子 持续在车 載存儲 方案的研发进行重大投资的原因。群联电子，作为全球 最大 的 车载 eMMC 主控 供应商， 不只取得 ISO26262 功能安全的开发 流程 认证，也是全球第一个取得 Automotive SPICE(ASPICE) CL3 的 獨立 闪存主控 研發 领导 供應 厂商。公司 长期以来，与 NAND 闪存领导制造商、 汽车行业的合作伙伴进行技术交流、商务合作与投资，以确保在车 载存储 行业中的领导地位。

Now that we have explored how the evolution of automotive technology and market needs is driving the need for in-vehicle storage solutions, our next article will introduce the evolution of in-vehicle storage technology, how to transition from eMMC to UFS and even PCIe BGA SSD in the future . Don’t miss the second article in our in - storage series.