New Microcontroller Lets Cars Call the Shots Once Humans Hand Over the Wheel

Companies like Nvidia and Intel are battling to build processors that act like the brains of autonomous cars, making decisions based on their surroundings to enable advanced driver assistance systems like automatic braking or adaptive cruise control and eventually to safely navigate city streets as well as highways. NXP Semiconductors is trying to turn those thoughts into action. On Monday, the Eindhoven, Netherlands-based company announced a new microcontroller to manage the systems that accelerate, steer and brake vehicles safely. The hardware, called S32S, can act on commands not only from a driver's turn of the steering wheel and foot pressing on the brake pedal but also from a car's central computer. It will compete with rival chips from the likes of Renesas and Infineon. The announcement reflects the understated role the world's largest maker of automotive chips is playing in the driverless car industry.