Renesas and AVL developing automotive ECUs that comply with top safety standards

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and announced a new partnership with AVL — which works on the development, simulation, and testing in the automotive sector. The companies are collaborating to deliver customer support for the development of electronic-control units (ECUs) that comply with the ISO 26262 international standard for automotive functional safety.

Under this collaboration, AVL will provide comprehensive support for the development of complex and specialized functional safety systems for Renesas’ automotive customers.

It has become a challenge to efficiently develop complex advanced ADAS/automated driving (AD) systems that comply with functional safety standards.

“We are pleased to be able to offer Renesas customers AVL’s advanced expertise and extensive experience in functional safety,” said Naoki Yoshida, VP, Automotive Digital Products Marketing Division at Renesas. “This collaboration will enable all of our customers around the world to quickly develop ISO 26262-compliant ECUs using Renesas’ highly reliable products.”

Renesas provides automotive R-Car System on Chips (SoCs), RH850 automotive-control microcontrollers (MCUs), power-management ICs (PMICs), and software solutions that support levels ASIL B to ASIL D of ISO26262. However, to meet functional safety standards, the entire ECU system must be compliant — not just the semiconductor devices.

Therefore, even with the use of R-Car and RH850 that meet the functional safety requirements, ISO 26262 compliant ECU development requires in depth system level expertise. AVL has a proven track record of supporting the development of ISO 26262-compliant ECUs from both hardware and software perspectives.

Through this collaboration, Renesas customers can leverage the sophisticated safety solutions of Renesas components, and benefit from AVL’s expert support for functional safety, enabling reduced development time for ISO 26262-compliant ECUs.

“With the proliferation of ADAS/AD, the number of ECUs that need to support functional safety is only going to increase,” said Dirk Geyer, director of Functional Safety and Cyber Security at AVL. “AVL can provide both hardware and software support for various levels of safety, including advanced support such as customized FMEDA and product-specific failure rate analysis. We look forward to providing comprehensive, global support to Renesas customers.”