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Tension Builds As The Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

Tension Builds As Auto Industry Awaits Reborn ADAS Specs

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Never underestimate the power of a regulator, especially one armed with a Congressional mandate — and money — to make the roads safer for all users. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill boosted NHTSA’s budget by 50 percent. Observers say the agency is poised to issue regulations with teeth.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is oft criticized for being too slow and cautious in mandating ADAS technology among its regulations. Worse, it has left too much implementation to voluntary agreements with the auto industry.

“This changed on May 31 with NHTSA’s announcement of adding both Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and pedestrian AEB (PAEB) to New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) regulation,” said Egil Juliussen, principal analyst at VSI Labs.

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Goodbye, Intel

Goodbye, Intel

By Peter Clarke

What’s at stake:
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is betting on the future of Intel with some bold moves. He has now been in place long enough – since February 2021 – for shareholders, customers and analysts to start to judge Gelsinger by what he does rather than by what he says, which often sound too optimistic.

Intel Corp.’s announcement that it plans to operate the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) as a separate business from January 1, 2024 with a view to an IPO within three years, has revealed an asset-sale trend.

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It’s the Chiplet Derby…Without Enough Horses

It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Technologies to build 2D and 2.5D multi-die chips have existed for almost a decade. Yet, demand for chiplets languished until the dawn of the generative AI era. Nvidia’s AI processors have swept the market, triggering a change so abrupt that foundries and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) companies are left flat-footed. At stake now is how long aspiring chiplet vendors can wait, and whether going to China for chiplet production is an option.

As global chiplet demand soars, the shortage in production capacity has focused sharply for developers of AI processors, high-performance computing chips and automotive OEMs/Tier Ones looking for scalable, automotive semiconductor designs.

Read More »It’s the Chiplet Derby … Without Enough Horses
Welcome Back, Intel

Welcome Back, Intel

By Peter Clarke

Last month. a couple of things happened that provide support to the idea that Intel could catch up with rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics in chip manufacturing technology.

One was the opening of Intel’s Fab34 in Leixlip, Ireland, and the start of mass-production of 4nm chips there. The other was the speculation that TSMC is delaying the ramping of its 2nm manufacturing process in Taiwan until 2026.

Why does it matter: Because much of US foreign and commercial policy depends on the country having a semiconductor technology leader and minimizing dependence on southeast Asia, which it apparently acknowledges as China’s sphere of influence.

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Nobody Puts Beijing in a Corner

Nobody Puts Beijing in a Corner

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Phrases like “decoupling,” “de-risking” and “China for China” – coined and overused in recent commentaries – reveal how Western business leaders’ struggle to come up with China strategies that justify their actions. It’s time to think beyond trade jargons. The business community needs to start articulating how it wants to work with China.

Many executives in the West already know that “decoupling” is simply silly when the foundations of an industry like semiconductors are built on international markets and a global supply chain.

“De-risking” illustrates Western corporations’ current trepidation toward doing business with China. Corporate leaders can’t predict the Chinese Communist Party’s next move, and they worry about fresh sanctions imposed on China by the United States.

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Kodiak Self-Driving Truck

AV Trucking: Bigger Robots, Bigger Problems?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Robotaxis have gone through cycles. Some are already out of business. If you believe AV trucks have better commercial prospects, think again. The roster is limited and the playing field hasn’t been chalked. Compared to robotaxis, AV trucks are still in their infancy.

Last Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a state law requiring a trained safety driver to occupy autonomous trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds.

The governor’s action was spun differently across the political spectrum. Most vocal were AV industry supporters and lobbyists, who claimed a major victory over the labor-backed Assembly Bill 316. 

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AI: Artificial or Alchemical Intelligence?

By David Benjamin

“Reynard affirmed that he had sent her majesty the queen a comb made of panthera bone ‘more lustrous than the rainbow, more odiferous than any perfume, a charm against every ill, a universal panacea.”

— Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, in reference to Hinreck van Alckmer, Reynard the Fox (1498)

According to Greek legend, Panacea, daughter of Aesculapius, god of medicine and healing, had powers to bestow on humanity the cure for everything that ails us. In English, a “panacea” solves everything.

Read More »AI: Artificial or Alchemical Intelligence?