1 Introduction

The automotive market is fast-changing and steadily-growing. A significant shift toward implementing more technology across nearly every vehicle subsystem has occurred in recent years. New designs implement drivetrain electrification, smarter and safer vehicles, and increasingly software-focused architectures—often referred to as software-defined vehicles. As a result, developers need higher compute, safety, and security requirements even in traditional low-range and mid-range performance automotive ECUs.

Accordingly, microcontrollers (MCUs) are increasingly playing a critical role in modern vehicles. In some cases, vehicles now contain more than 300 MCUs, performing functions ranging from simple sensing or actuation to advanced motor control and zonal subsystem management. With so many MCUs in every vehicle, automakers are seeking higher performance at lower costs, for both next-generation platforms and in existing designs.

Texas Instruments' latest investment in the general-purpose automotive MCU segment is the MSPM33C321A-Q1 device. The MSPM33C321A-Q1 device is designed to address the current needs of the automotive market. The MSPM33C321A-Q1 device provides increased compute and analog performance, automotive-grade safety and security features to address current requirements, all while maintaining a current competitive cost structure for AEC-Q100 qualified devices.