Infineon Technologies is a global leader in the field, producing sensors for automotive applications and others. Initiating our series of interviews here at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, we caught up with Shawn Slusser, Vice President, Automotive, Infineon Technologies Americas Corp, to hear about the supplier’s take on making connected/automated cars safe and secure.
What is the headline message that Infineon Technologies is putting out here at the CES?
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CES is a hotspot for connected and automated cars.
CES is a hotspot for connected and automated cars. Our focus is on making them safe and secure. One day, self-driving vehicles could reduce road accidents by 90 per cent. However, four out of five US consumers admit to being afraid of autonomous driving. They do not trust its reliability. Globally, more than two out of three consumers would be more inclined to use such a vehicle if they were certain that the electronics system was safe and data secured. This is where Infineon comes into play. Precise sensing, dependable computing, hardware anchors for cybersecurity – visitors will see all of this technology that will help build up trust at our automotive booth #1700 at the Westgate Pavilion.
In an autonomous car, is it all about processing power for sensor fusion or are there other aspects to make computing dependable?
In the future, robustness and reliability of a controller will become even more important than they are today. Proven deterministic behaviour with time-critical functions and fast recovery in the event of an error are essential elements of a robust computer. This is where multi-core controller families with optimised architectures for real-time controls show their strengths. Classic processors with complex memory management and multiple cache levels, for example, often do not allow a reliable prediction of maximum execution times. In addition, integrated flash and RAM memories with their safety mechanisms ensure robustness over the entire life cycle. Finally, cybersecurity needs to be addressed. Here, modern automotive controller families differ clearly from products derived from consumer or communication applications.
This is why many leading computing platforms for automated driving include an AURIX™ microcontroller from Infineon. We are the market reference for bringing safety and security to automated driving. One additional area that must be considered for having a dependable compute solution is to ensure power is always available to run the system, which is something we call “Dependable Power.”
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By GlobalDataA lot of engineering effort is required to design a redundant power supply and power distribution network for autonomous cars so that a single point failure cannot disable the system. Infineon has a long history and innovation expertise in power supply and power distribution products. We’re applying this knowledge and solutions to help customers design and build Dependable Power architectures for their future cars.
While we are seeing an acceleration of level 1 and 2 driving automation, there are delays in higher levels due to the lack of an established regulatory framework and the technical challenge of providing safety in all driving situations. In terms of Level 2+, could you summarise Infineon’s position and product offering?
Put simply, level 2+ means that carmakers include level 3 features in a level 2 car – however, unlike at level 3, the legal responsibility always remains with the human driver. From a technical point of view, level 2+ means more sensors, camera and particularly radar, and as a consequence also more sensor fusion. We are in a leading position in both areas. Today, two out of three automotive radar systems use our chips. And, as already mentioned, our AURIX microcontrollers provide safety and security to sensor fusion.
Could you tell us about your collaboration with Synopsys, your aims and the stage reached so far?
This collaboration is about accelerating artificial intelligence in automotive applications. AI is a fundamental building block for future automated driving applications such as object classification, target tracking or path planning. In addition, AI will help optimise other applications. For example, it will enable optimised engine auto-calibration. Together with Synopsys, we are working on a high-performance AI accelerator to prepare our future microcontrollers for such data-hungry applications. This accelerator will be part of our next generation AURIX.
Is connectivity the main driver for progress at present?
Connectivity is a basic requirement for all major automotive trends. While this is obvious for things like enhanced safety through vehicle-to-x communication or for over-the-air software updates, it also applies to electro-mobility. For example, fast charging requires communication between the car and the charging station. Unfortunately, there is another side to the coin: more connectivity leads to higher cybersecurity risks.
Security against hacker attacks is vital for connected cars. How can Infineon help keep connected cars secure?
Infineon has been in the security market for more than 30 years. Almost 50 per cent of all credit or debit cards issued in 2018 include an Infineon security chip. Every other business laptop is equipped with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) from us. We are bringing this expertise to the automotive industry and have developed a number of security chips dedicated to in-car applications. For example, we were the first to introduce an automotive qualified TPM. It acts as a gatekeeper, for example in the telematics unit, authenticating the sender of incoming data, checking data integrity, decrypting and encrypting messages and providing safe storage for digital keys.
Is there such a thing as a cyber secure car?
There is no such thing as 100 per cent security.
There is no such thing as 100 per cent security. The goal is a sufficient level of security: The cost of an attack has to be higher than the potential benefit. Unfortunately, the definition of what is sufficient is not set in stone. Take brute force attacks, for example – simply trying out all possible digital keys or passwords. Today, computers are not capable of doing this within a reasonable amount of time. However, in the next 10 to 20 years quantum computers make such attacks much more likely. Cars that will be on the road then are being developed now. Therefore, crypto-agility is a must. We offer security hardware that is updatable. Furthermore, Infineon is working on post-quantum cryptography and its standardisation. Recently, we were the first player to implement a system for post-quantum key exchange on a commercial contactless security chip.
We are hearing more about biometrics. What are the applications and opportunities in the automotive industry?
We see biometrics being used in applications which require monitoring inside the cabin of the vehicle. Infineon is working on radar sensors which can detect heartbeats and Time-Of-Flight sensors to monitor the driver or passengers. The shorter term applications of these technologies is to monitor the driver in a level 2 or 3 vehicle to ensure a safe transition from machine to person and also to protect and identify when a child may be left in a car. Longer term, robo-taxis and fleet vehicles will need to understand who is in their vehicle and how they are positioned.
Are you scouting for start-ups at this event? If so, in what areas?
We’re always looking for tech companies including start-ups.
Yes, we’re always looking for tech companies including start-ups. We’re interested in both hardware and software technologies relevant and synergistic to our portfolio in ADAS and autonomous driving.
