Chip supplier NXP works on self-driving cars, trucks

Record ID: 80112

  • Title: Chip supplier NXP works on self-driving cars, trucks
  • Date: 6th November 2016
  • Summary: MUNICH, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 4, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SELF-DRIVING CAR ON TEST ROAD
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2016 15:27
  • Keywords: NXP autononous cars trucks chip supplier Germany
  • Location: MUNICH, GERMANY
  • City: MUNICH, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
  • Reuters ID: LVA00157B35AL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:NXP Semiconductor, the world's largest chip supplier to the automotive industry, works on the development of self-driving cars and trucks.
    "Just imagine, there is 1.3 million fatalities every year on the road of this planet. 95 percent of this heavy accidents are committed by human beings, so the driver was distracted, is tired, is drunk, is texting, so in the last years we are seeing an uptake of these road fatalities again, because people use their smartphones while driving. A machine, a perfect machine that would be driving better than a normal human being, would not have these weaknesses. It is always paying attention to the road conditions, it's never doing illegal stuff, has a 360-degree surround view under all circumstances," Lars Reger, NXP chief technology officer explained in Munich on Friday (November 4) as the company demonstrated their self-driving capabilities.
    NXP expects efforts to make self-driving cars will lead to more consolidation in its sector, the company's automotive head said during the presentation.
    The chip industry has been undergoing rapid consolidation as companies try to capture market share, much of it related to connected devices and cars, as smartphone sales growth flattens.
    Meanwhile, car and truck makers are racing to develop autonomous vehicles as they seek to head off a potential threat to their industry from technology firms.
    NXP last week agreed to be bought by Qualcomm for $38 billion, less than a year after NXP became the biggest automotive chip maker after buying Freescale.
    NXP was showcasing how trucks can, with the help of radar chips, drive in a row, which is called platooning. The first truck is fully controlled by a driver, while the following ones are partially autonomous, potentially making transport safer and more energy-efficient.
    It is such technology that prompted Qualcomm to bid for NXP, in the chip sector's biggest deal.
    "In the last 30 years connectivity was mainly about connecting people with each other. What we are discussing since five years is connecting devices. And cars are of course expensive devices that you gonna connect and there is very interesting use cases of course that you can leverage with that connectivity as this truck platooning, as autonomous driving, as learning cars, so basically we are getting out a lot of these use cases. NXP and Freescale in the combination, we are the only company in the automotive electronics industry that really has all components for building self-driving robots," Reger said.
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