“With the recent proliferation of electric vehicles and the rapid advancement of infotainment and autonomous driving systems, the semiconductor automotive platform is facing a paradigm shift. What used to be a seven to eight-year replacement cycle is now being compressed into a three to four-year cycle, and at the same time, performance and capacity requirements are advancing to levels commonly found in servers,” said Jinman Han, Executive Vice President and Head of Memory Global Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s reinforced lineup of memory solutions will act as a major catalyst in further accelerating the shift toward the ‘Server on Wheels’ era.”

Advanced features in infotainment systems such as high-definition maps, video streaming and 3D gaming, together with the growing use of autonomous driving systems, have been driving the demand for high-capacity, high-performance SSDs and graphics DRAM throughout the automotive industry.

In 2017, Samsung was the first in the industry to introduce UFS solutions for automotive applications. Today, the company is well-positioned to provide a total memory solution with the new automotive SSD and GDDR6 DRAM.

Samsung’s 256GB BGA SSD controller and firmware are developed in-house for optimized performance, offering a sequential read speed of 2,100 megabytes per second (MB/s) and a sequential write speed of 300MB/s, which are seven and two times faster than today’s eMMC, respectively. Furthermore, the 2GB GDDR6 DRAM features up to a 14 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) data rate per pin. Such exceptional speeds and bandwidth will support complex processing of various multimedia applications as well as large amounts of autonomous driving data, contributing to a safer, more dynamic and more convenient driving experience.

In addition, Samsung’s new automotive solutions meet the AEC-Q100 qualification — the global automotive reliability standard — allowing them to operate stably in extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to +105°C, which is an especially crucial requirement for automotive semiconductors.

Recently, sensor deployment in autonomous vehicles to continuously monitor immediate surroundings has been increasing, and high-speed processing to interpret and predict this data for safer driving is becoming critically important. By introducing automotive memory solutions previously championed in servers and AI accelerators, Samsung is helping to pave the way for safer autonomous driving.

Having already completed customer evaluations, the new automotive memory products are currently in mass production.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that it has received the ISO 26262 certification for functional safety in automotive components from TÜV Rheinland, a globally renowned third-party testing, inspection and certification company.

The accreditation of Samsung’s new functional safety management system ensures that the company’s advanced automotive semiconductors, such as processors, image sensors, memory and light emitting diode (LED) solutions, satisfy the industry’s rigid safety standards throughout the product development process.

“TÜV Rheinland provides independent testing and inspection services that stand by quality and safety,” said Manuel Diaz, Global Field Manager at TÜV Rheinland. “Samsung has successfully built its management system that will provide semiconductor solutions meeting the functional safety requirements for today’s automakers. We are pleased to present Samsung with the ISO 26262 certification for automotive semiconductors that will help enhance functional safety within the industry.”

“Safety is a top priority, especially when it comes to tomorrow’s automotive vehicles, and our ISO 26262 certification is an exciting step that secures functional safety in Samsung’s advanced automotive semiconductor solutions,” said Kenny Han, vice president of Device Solutions Division at Samsung Electronics. “We expect that the new ISO 26262 certification will drive momentum for our comprehensive lineup of innovative semiconductor solutions in the automotive market.”

As the adoption of electronic components in automobiles continue to increase and the development of future applications are accelerated across industries, the importance of automotive safety standards for semiconductor components as well as their level of sophistication have also risen.

The ISO 26262 for automotive functional safety was established as a global standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2011 to minimize risks from electric or electronic system malfunction in vehicles. Recognizing the growing requirements for semiconductors in emerging automotive technologies such as advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving, guidelines specific to such products were added to the revised standard in 2018.

With the ISO 26262 certification, Samsung plans to accumulate development cases and make continuous improvements to further reinforce its functional safety management system. In addition to the certification, Samsung’s automotive semiconductor solutions have been meeting the highest standards of quality management and reliability required by IATF 16949 and AEC-Q100 specifications respectively.