Ethernovia accelerates chip drive for software-defined vehicles

Just weeks after the star attractions at CES 2024 were connected automotive use cases exemplifying the emergence of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) in driving a new era of computing, Ethernovia has announced the sampling of a scalable family of automotive PHY transceivers.

The Silicon Valley-based startup said its aim is to evolve the future of automobile networks that enable the autonomous driving and electrical vehicle (EV) revolutions. Moreover, it believes its data transport and acceleration technology can usher in a new era of car connectivity and capabilities required for the software-defined vehicle (SDV).

In May 2023, Ethernovia announced the completion of a $64m Series A funding round, with investors including Porsche Automobile Holding SE (Porsche SE), Qualcomm Ventures, VentureTech Alliance, AMD Ventures, Western Digital Capital, Fall Line Capital, Taiwania Capital and ENEA Capital among others.

“As demands for the vehicle of the future continue to rise – greater safety, full autonomy, long-range electrification and more – vehicular bandwidth demands rise commensurately,” said Ramin Shirani, Ethernovia cofounder and CEO. “Our PHY family will be integral to making that future vehicle a reality, not only in meeting these rising demands, but doing so while setting a new benchmark for in-vehicle network energy efficiency.”

Outlining where the new devices could see use in the SDV arena, Andreas Aal at Volkswagen Group said: “Electrification, increasing connectivity demands and the advancement of automated driving functions result in ever increasing requirements on fast and secure data transmission in the vehicle and to the cloud.

“Ethernovia’s new PHY meets these demands by offering energy-efficient, high-bandwidth, low-latency data transmission paired with embedded co-optimised safety and security IP to enable a seamless and holistic architecture transition that paves the way up to future software-defined vehicles.”

The devices are the automotive semiconductor company’s first in a planned family of products encompassing a holistic hardware and software system for the next generation of centralised vehicle architecture. That will include a high-bandwidth, low-latency switch in the 7nm process currently being developed in strategic partnership with leading original equipment manufacturer Continental.

The new range scales from 10 Gbps to 1 Gbps over 15 meters of automotive cabling, drawing what is claimed to be the industry’s lowest power, critical for SDV, and to deliver what the manufacturer says is the “highest” level of safety for the next generation of intelligent driving systems and data-rich car manufacturers.

In addition, the ENT11100 and ENT11025 devices are said to be the only PHY that support 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps and 1Gbps in the same device to meet the rising data demands of SDV features, including advanced driver assistance systems, autonomy and over-the-air software while simultaneously simplifying thermal design.

The devices are Ethernovia’s first in a planned family of products encompassing a holistic hardware and software system for the next generation of centralised vehicle architecture. That will include a high-bandwidth, low-latency switch in the 7nm process currently being developed in strategic partnership with leading original equipment manufacturer Continental. The firms are committed to working together to make the advanced switch fit for series use in high-performance computers developed by the OEM.