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> This isn't how it works for cost-sensitive designs. You don't hear people boasting about how they have a quad-core car computer and how the touchscreens from
by exDM69 13y ago
> This isn't how it works for cost-sensitive designs. You don't hear people boasting about how they have a quad-core car computer and how the touchscreens from their motor control are perfect for Facebook interactions.
I work for a company that makes quad core computers for automotive use and they do end up being used for Facebook interactions among other things like the dashboard etc. The engine management computers will be a separate entity, though. If you look at the big auto shows from the past few years, the car manufacturers clearly do think that this going to be a major differentiator in the next years and it's going to be average consumer models too, not just premium sports cars like today.
But the quad core chips we sell today will be on the road in five or more years. By the time they roll out of the assembly line, the computers will not be spectacular by the standards of that day. A smartphone is 6-18 months from design to production, a car is several times that.
It's not like the car manufacturers were cheap on the hardware.
- sharpneli 13y agoIn a sense they are rather cheap on the hardware. Instead of using stuff like netbook chipsets they tend to gravitate towards mobile chipsets. The difference between IMX.6 and AMD Jaguar (just examples, you can also look at Intel's chipsets and other boards like Tegra etc) is like night and day. Why isn't the Jaguar used in Mobile phones? Because it can use tens of watts compared to just few watts of IMX.6. So at least for me it seems the companies wish to save few watts of power usage and few tens of dollars per car.
- Spooky23 13y agoMy car was parked outside in sunny upstate NY a few weeks ago. I started it up, warmed up the engine for 5 m and drove 70mph to work in the cold. The temperature? -5 F. In a few months, it will be 110+ F in the sun and humidity when the car is parked outside. Things like engine control modules and even entertainment systems in cars operate outside of the environmental ranges that a netbook is designed to survive in. I don't want my car sidelined because of some unreliable computer.
- weland 13y agoThe safety regulations, standards compliance requirements, mechanical, thermal and electrical parameters are significantly more strenuous for automotive ICs than for consumer devices. Does AMD manufacture Jaguar chips that can be used in automotive? There are also issues of logistics at stake, such as maintenance. Unless AMD is willing to manufacture a certain Jaguar chip for the 5-8 years that automotive manufacturers typically require it, the Jaguars wouldn't even be considered for many systems.