S32N Processors Consolidate ECUs

NXP is addressing new automotive architectures with its new S32N processor series. Part of its S32 CoreRide platform, the first model in the series—the S32N55—serves to centralize and integrate the various electronic control units that today are scattered throughout vehicles.

NXP’s S32 CoreRide is a newly launched brand covering its collection of automotive hardware and software solutions. It provides a unifying theme and technology for the company’s own benefit and for the ecosystem of developers that will offer additional software features and functions.

Centralization is an emerging trend for vehicles with burgeoning quantities of electronics. The S32N55 handles driving functions such as propulsion, dynamics, comfort, and vehicle management. It’s thus intended for use in automotive safety-integrity level (ASIL) D systems requiring the highest functional safety.

TechInsights rates NXP as the number two vendor into the automotive market, but its current chips address specific functions such as radar, zone control, and gateways. The S32N55 gathers the disparate functions of erstwhile discrete—and possibly unrelated—control units and implements them centrally. Function isolation in the new chip is critical to ensuring that all the centralized functions operate independently.

The company would appear to stand alone in centralizing drive functions, but the chip won’t be in production until Q2 2026. We expect that, as the S32N55 goes into production, other options will have at least been announced and may be shipping as well.