Development platform to speed switchover to electromobility
Following the introduction of its “Bluebox” for prototype development of autonomous vehicles, NXP Semiconductors now also rolls a development platform for vehicle electrification. This GreenBox enables automotive manufacturers and suppliers to start early on with the development of next-generation hybrid and electric vehicle applications using the S32 automotive multicore platform from NXP, which is based on arm-cortex technology.
With increasing legal emission limits and stricter global fuel economy requirements, both traditional OEMs and new entrants are under pressure to bring electric and hybrid vehicles to market as quickly as possible. The GreenBox offers a powerful computing platform for testing and designing new control algorithms and energy management tasks, which are of crucial importance for future hybrid and electric vehicles.
The GreenBox is one of the development platforms for next-generation NXPs S32 electrification MCUs, part of the S32 automotive processor platform built around a secure and fault-tolerant configuration. The S32 electrification MCUs are the ideal answer to the ever-increasing demands on computing and storage capacities of tomorrow’s HEV/EV applications.
Using the GreenBox development environment, developers can also use the combination of high-performance and optimized modules such as timers, engine control interfaces and analog subsystems to communicate with their own development hardware.
The GreenBox is available in two configurations: the first one is suitable for the development of complete electric vehicles and supports electric motor control and battery management; the second one is used for the development of hybrid applications and therefore supports both functions for electric vehicles and traditional control functions for fuel engines.
Recently, China, India, France, several US states and some other countries have passed or announced laws that will put an end to the production of fuel-powered vehicles there. In addition, the annual production rate of internal combustion engines is falling, while electric and hybrid engines are recording growth.
“Due to the combination of regulatory and market indicators and long development cycles in the automotive industry, car manufacturers are being asked to start developing HEV/EV systems now – even before the next wave of processors for electrification enters the market,” said Ray Cornyn, NXP vice president of Vehicle Dynamics and Safety. “The GreenBox addresses this challenge by providing a hardware development environment to car manufacturers before the S32 electrification MCUs from NXP become available.”
The electrification development platform GreenBox is available now in limited quantities for alpha customers.
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