How are Safe Processors Designed?

April 20, 2023

Processors used in automotive applications like self-driving cars need to be safe and reliable, which makes them a bit different than the conventional microcontroller.

William G. Wong

I talked with Tom Conway, Arm's Senior Director of Product Management for Automotive, about how they design and support core IP for safety-related applications like automotive and transportation systems (watch the video above).

Technologies like lockstep processor design is needed to meet SAE Level 4 and 5 requirements. Arm supports this approach for all of its solutions, from microcontrollers through application processors.

Developers working in this space face challenges when attempting to attain something like ISO 26262, because they also must address all of the tracking and paperwork associated with the design process, starting with the IP obtained from Arm. Arm already has this process in place for those utilizing this type of IP.

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About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.