TI debuts new automotive chips at CES, enabling automakers to create smarter, safer vehicles

News highlights:

• The industry’s first single-chip radar sensor designed for satellite architectures can increase vehicle sensing ranges beyond 200 meters and enable more accurate advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) decision-making.
• New driver chips support safe and efficient control of power flow in battery management or other powertrain systems with functional safety compliance and built-in diagnostics to reduce development time.

Texas Instruments (TI) (Nasdaq: TXN) today introduced new semiconductors designed to improve automotive safety and intelligence. The AWR2544 77GHz millimetre-wave radar sensor chip is the industry’s first for satellite radar architectures, enabling higher levels of autonomy by improving sensor fusion and decision-making in ADAS. TI’s new software-programmable driver chips, the DRV3946-Q1 integrated contactor driver and DRV3901-Q1 integrated squib driver for pyro fuses, offer built-in diagnostics and support functional safety for battery management and powertrain systems. TI is demonstrating these new products at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

“Semiconductor innovations like the ones we’re showcasing this year at CES are helping automotive systems continue to evolve and contribute to a safer driver experience,” said Fern Yoon, director of Automotive Systems at Texas Instruments. “From more advanced driver assistance systems to smarter electric vehicle powertrain systems, TI is working alongside automakers to reimagine how reliable and intelligent technology can enable safer vehicles.”

Increase radar performance for smarter ADAS decision-making

Many automakers are adding more sensors around the car to improve vehicle safety and autonomy. TI’s AWR2544 single-chip radar sensor is the industry’s first designed for satellite architectures. In satellite architectures, radar sensors output semi-processed data to a central processor for ADAS decision-making using sensor fusion algorithms, taking advantage of 360-degree sensor coverage to achieve higher levels of vehicle safety.

The AWR2544 single-chip radar sensor is also the industry’s first with launch-on-package (LOP) technology. LOP technology helps reduce the size of the sensor by as much as 30% by mounting a 3D waveguide antenna on the opposite side of the printed circuit board. LOP technology also enables sensor ranges to extend beyond 200m with a single chip. In satellite architectures, these features enable automakers to increase ADAS intelligence for higher vehicle autonomy levels to make smarter decisions from farther away. The AWR2544 is the latest in TI’s radar sensor portfolio, which supports a wide range of ADAS applications and architectures with sensors developed for corner, front, imaging, side and rear radar systems.

Make electric powertrain systems smarter with integrated functionality and safety

Supporting the trend toward software-defined vehicles is challenging for designers to develop smarter, more advanced battery management systems (BMS). Two new highly integrated, software-programmable driver chips from TI address requirements for safer and more efficient control of high-voltage disconnect circuits in a BMS or other powertrain system. Both drivers are International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 functional safety-compliant and offer built-in diagnostics and protection to reduce automotive engineers’ development time.

For BMS and other powertrain systems, the DRV3946-Q1 is the industry’s first fully integrated contactor driver. It includes a peak-and-hold current controller that helps automakers increase system power efficiency. The device also implements safety diagnostics to monitor the condition of the contactor.

TI’s DRV3901-Q1 fully integrated squib driver enables an intelligent pyro fuse disconnect system by using built-in circuitry to monitor the pyro fuse and provide diagnostic information to the system microcontroller. This gives hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and EV BMS designers the flexibility to use a pyro fuse instead of traditional melting fuse systems while minimizing design complexity.

To learn more about simplifying BMS and power distribution designs, read the technical article, “How squib and contactor drivers help improve safety and efficiency in HEV/EV battery disconnect systems.”

Enabling a safer, smarter and more sustainable future at CES 2024

TI is showcasing automotive innovations for smarter, safer vehicles, including the AWR2544, DRV3901-Q1 and DRV3946-Q1. Demonstrations will show system-level innovations for ADAS and BMS designs as well as other TI technologies across zone architectures, EV charging, energy storage and more.