Understanding Chip Shortages

[Darnon]

Auto manufacturers do also use some modern off-the-shelf chips for things like Wi-Fi and cell connectivity. Although those aren't without their own supply shortages at present and they may not want to engineer/certify for multiple vendor source components. I suspect the start-stop functionality might rely on a common component since both Ford and Chevy have had to work around cutting the feature to keep moving units.

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[Sliphorn]

It's true that the auto industry would benefit from moving to more modern CPU architectures (ARM, e.g.). One obstacle is that modern architectures lack some important features found in legacy devices (PowerPC, Aurix, etc) such as memory management, communication & sensor interfaces (CAN/CAN-FD, LIN, A/D, I2C, etc), calibration support, and so on. Many modern CPUs also lack support for ASIL safety requirements, clock management for EMC, etc.

Given the economies of scale in the ARM world it seems likely that automotive ECU designers will move that direction but it will take a while for the supply base to gain experience developing for the new architectures. Auto OEMs tend to be risk averse and are typically slow to adopt new tech.

I don't agree that OEMs should be designing their own CPUs. They tried to do it in the 80s/90s but the business case usually doesn't pan out and those devices typically became obsolete quickly. They need to take advantage of the huge economy of scale by using devices and tooling from the consumer electronic space.

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It kind of makes me yearn for an old Dodge Dart with a slant six and three on a tree.
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[clippedwings]

My apologies. If you live long enough you will eventually be admonished for living in the past, no matter how flexible and adaptive you are. MY big come-uppance is apparently being caught reading a MAGAZINE (talk about retro). I will take my punishment and try not to reference this relic from a past century in public again. I'm NOT too old to learn. However, I refuse to sit down and synopsize a 6-page magazine article, like a high school student saddled with a horrible weekend homework task, just to fabricate a report to post on a forum. I pledge to never again post any suggestion that requires any effort other than clicking on a link, or reading a blurb I have copied and pasted.

And yes, @Sliphorn - I get that. I had one too

 

[MaverickTime]

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It seems to me that the auto industry needs to get off of their rear ends and engineer their systems to accept modern chip technology. And also make their own chips.
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And perhaps also build them in the good ol USA.

 

[Sliphorn]

My apologies. If you live long enough you will eventually be admonished for living in the past, no matter how flexible and adaptive you are. MY big come-uppance is apparently being caught reading a MAGAZINE (talk about retro). I will take my punishment and try not to reference this relic from a past century in public again. I'm NOT too old to learn. However, I refuse to sit down and synopsize a 6-page magazine article, like a high school student saddled with a horrible weekend homework task, just to fabricate a report to post on a forum. I pledge to never again post any suggestion that requires any effort other than clicking on a link, or reading a blurb I have copied and pasted.

And yes, @Sliphorn - I get that. I had one too

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You are good as far as I am concerned. I was a high level trombone player for fifty years until I retired a couple of years ago. I spent the bulk of my career in Chgo and NYC. I say this because my profession was/is a relic of the past and I dealt with the minutiae of being an artist on a daily basis.

Absolutely no shortcuts what so ever. It was real, tactile, visceral, physical, and exhausting......I could go on forever, though I'd much rather read a magazine.
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[DesertSweat]

What I learned from this thread: Time magazine still exists. Huh, what do you know?

Maybe Time is having chip shortages as well. Explains why we can't get a hold of these so called "magazines"

 

[clippedwings]

Fortunately, my Father-In-Law first placed our order over 90 years ago, before the shortage

 

[DryHeat]

I used to subscribe.

Then I figured out that, although I had Time, I didn't have time...

 

[clippedwings]

It's because now we only have time for bits and bytes

 

[DryHeat]

It's because now we only have time for bits and bytes

Actually, it was before the Internet. You could get bits and bytes, but you had to go to the store.

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