Storage technologies in the automotive sector

Special features of data storage systems in the automotive sector

In order to address customers from the industrial electronics or automotive sectors, semiconductor manufacturers have to adapt their products to the requirements customary in the respective industry. A striking example of the higher requirements in industry and automotive engineering is the extended temperature range of -40 ° C to +85 ° C or even -40 ° C to +105 ° C. A major challenge for semiconductor manufacturers also arises from the product life cycles that are common in industry and automotive engineering. Industrial electronics and automobiles are produced much longer than e.g. semiconductor ICs for smartphones. Even after production has ended, the systems will continue to be used in industry for many years so that spare parts must be available for maintenance and repair.

Autonomous driving: trigger for the storage revolution

The large number of sensors that are required for autonomous driving generate an impressive amount of data that can be stored and processed very quickly and that quick access must be ensured. In the course of the development from L2 to L5, the data generation rate will increase tenfold, according to Yole's estimate, from 1 GByte per second to 10 GByte per second. For example, each autonomous vehicle could generate an average of up to 4000 GB per day. Since it is not possible to transmit all new data to the network (also due to the requirements for speed and security), massive internal storage is required.

Autonomous vehicles are radically changing the storage requirements in vehicles. A significant increase in the average NAND content in vehicles is expected by 2024, which could exceed 300 GB per vehicle with a CAGR18-24 of around 79 percent. At the same time, the DRAM content per vehicle with a CAGR18-24 of around 42 percent will increase from 3.2 GB per vehicle today to almost 20 GB per vehicle.