Automobiles have become a new platform for innovation. Aggressive new fuel economy standards adopted across automobile manufacturers today has ushered in huge changes in the automotive industry. Fuel economy requirements are driving automotive technology such as mirror replacement cameras which not only improves safety with wider view angle, blind spot coverage, compensating for glare, darkness and rain. Cameras have advantages over traditional mirrors: improved safety and better fuel economy.
Speaking at MIPI DevCon 2017, organized by MIPI Alliance in Bengaluru, Mr. Matthew Ronning, Chair, MIPI Alliance’s Automotive sub-Group said,
Manufacturers are already using MIPI Alliance specifications as they develop and implement applications for passive and active safety, infotainment and advanced driverless systems. MIPI interfaces such as Camera Serial Interface and Display Serial Interface are ideal for a variety of low- and high-bandwidth applications that integrate components such as cameras, displays, biometric readers, microphones and accelerometers. MIPI specifications help automotive systems designers minimize the complexity, cost and development time for products that use multiple sensors in a space-constrained form factor.
He elaborated that with the modernization and electrification of vehicles, electronics as a percentage of the BOM (bill of materials) of the car has skyrocketed. This will only become a higher percentage as piloted and self-driving vehicles start to become more commonplace. The complexity of automobiles and specifically car electronics will increase the demand for sophisticated data solutions to manage bill of materials (BOM) and related product data. Touching upon MIPI’s extended support to the automotive industry, Matthew Ronning said,
Telematics and invehicle infotainment, advanced driver assist systems, intelligent transportation systems and autonomous driving systems among others are some of the MIPI applicable sub systems that we are actively working on today.
MIPI Specifications for the automotive industry is gaining popularity as it provides High Bandwidth, allows 4x 1080p cameras on a single Processor, has a multi Camera/multi modal architecture, allows for efficient use of Virtual Channel and Data Types and caters to high levels of quality and safety. This trend is expected to continue and gain momentum in the years to come.
The real question is should Indian Auto Industry embrace the specifications provided by MIPI Alliance? – The industry experts should decide.
