Renesas Technology to Use Bosch FlexRay IP for Automotive Microcontroller

-- Renesas Technology Corp. today announced an agreement with Robert Bosch GmbH to use its FlexRay™^*1 communication controller IP in a microcontroller for automotive communication applications. The first device to be developed will be based on the high-performance M32C family core, which is already well established in the automotive industry. The company also plans to use FlexRay in the SuperH™^*2 (SH-2) and M32R families to target power train and adaptive cruise control (ACC) applications.

Renesas Technology's objective is to provide a complete FlexRay system solution in a single package. This will meet customer demands for small size and provide the best commercial and technical system solution. To do this, the company will develop physical layer devices, such as a bus guardian and bus driver, using its own CMOS and mixed-signal process technologies, which are for all automotive applications. These devices will complement the FlexRay microcontroller. Sample shipment is scheduled for Q4 in 2005.

FlexRay is a solution available for high-speed fault-tolerant communication in advanced automotive applications, such as steer- and brake-by-wire. In contrast to event-triggered electronic systems such as CAN^*3 , time-triggered electronic systems communicate continually in pre-defined time slots on a data bus. Therefore, they avoid communication overload due to the occurrence of several important events at the same time.

FlexRay is ideally suited for safety-critical applications in which electronically controlled systems completely replace mechanical systems. In addition to offering fault tolerance and reliability, FlexRay is reusable and can be easily composed and tested . This enables car manufacturers and their suppliers to shorten time-to-market significantly and to reduce the costs of developing, testing and maintaining new electronic systems.

Renesas Technology provides products for a broad variety of automotive applications including powertrain, chassis and safety-critical systems . These devices range from the 8-bit 740 series, the 16-bit M16C, R8C/Tiny H8 and H8S series to the high-performance 32-bit SuperH, M32C and M32R series .

About Renesas Technology Corp.

Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, automotive and PC/AV markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501, NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503) and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and world leading microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, flash memories, SRAMs and more.
http://www.renesas.com


Note:
1. FlexRay™ is a communication system that will support the needs of future in-car control applications. FlexRay is a registered trademark of DaimlerChrysler AG.
2.  SuperH™ is a trademark of Renesas Technology Corp.
3. CAN(Controller Area Network) is a network specification for use in vehicles, proposed by Robert Bosch GmbH