How will the ubiquitous smart surface touch in the car cockpit be introduced?

Editor's note: On June 7, 2022, the 2022 Automotive Chip Industry Development-Cloud Forum hosted by Gasgoo was held as scheduled, and Xiong Haifeng, founder and CEO of Shanghai Taisi Microelectronics Co., Ltd., was invited to attend and published "Smart Surface and Smart Touch". Keynote speech on "Control and Empowering Smart Vehicle Applications".Gasgoo has compiled a text based on the speech to share with readers.

At present, the automobile industry is going through a major change unseen in a century. The development ofnew energyand new forces in car manufacturing is rapid, and at the same time, the entire market is being rearranged.At present, the market share of self-owned brands continues to rise, accounting for 57.7% in April this year. The share of Japan, the United States and South Korea has dropped significantly, which is related to the lack of new energy vehicle models.The market share of new energy vehicles is close to 30%, including the continuous record high sales of new car manufacturers.

The era ofintelligent network connection leads to sudden changes in the industry

The development of new functions and new technologies in the automotive industry has changed from the mode of incremental innovation (chassis, power, cockpit entertainment, etc.) and the logic of penetration from high-end luxury brands to low-end and low-end.Disruptive innovations or new four modernizations (electrification, networking, intelligence, and sharing) led by new car-making forces are taking place, ranging from vehicle EEA electrical architecture, power system innovation to ADAS and Internet of Vehicles and even business models. New forces are catching up and surpassing with new technologies, which will have a big impact on traditional car companies.

Secondly, Chinese companies have the opportunity to achieve overtaking in corners in technological innovation, advantageous resources (battery materials, permanent magnet materials, clean energy, etc.) and the consumer market, but there is still great uncertainty in the semiconductor sector.At the same time, technological innovation led by the new four modernizations needs to be closer to the overall market demand.

At present, the market structure of the automobile industry will intensify changes, and new forces will see rapid growth in car manufacturing, which also requires the support of a localized supply chain.

Intelligence is more about the intelligence of human-computer interaction related to car regulations and touch.Taisil Micro observes that smart surfaces and smart touch are rigid requirements for the development of smart cars, mainly in the following points:

First, the structural requirements of smart cars and the intelligent cockpit make the application of multi-screen and through-screen more and more widely. Except that the large screen of the entertainment and navigation system has been completely transformed into a touch screen, it was originally controlled by the central control part. The physical buttons of entertainment navigation and air-conditioning systems do not have enough space to be arranged, and it is necessary to miniaturize or transfer functions to other components such as steering wheel, central control panel, roof controller, etc., requiring miniaturized buttons to integrate more in a limited area The button function has a part of actively seeking change, and also part of a driving force that is compelled to do so.Capacitive or pressure touch can well meet this part of the requirements.

Second, the usage habits of consumer products, especially the usage habits developed by mobile devices such as mobile phones, naturally migrate to the cockpit combined driving scenario. Of course, users are very accustomed to the touch experience like a mobile phone. With the intelligentization of cars, including the use of pressure touch Control-based human-computer interaction has gradually entered the automotive field.

Third, the appeal of aesthetics and sense of technology, the car needs to gradually replace the traditional and clumsy mechanical buttons in terms of shape and aesthetics, and replace it with more beautiful and flexible smart touch.

Fourth, the improvement of user experience, combined with other interactive technologies, such as ambient light, sound, including vibration, can provide users with a better user experience than traditional mechanical buttons.

Human-computer interaction first sense smart surface and full layout of touch

The application of smart surface and smart touch basically covers all parts inside and outside the car, and the application is also very extensive, such as door handles and tailgate logos in the cabin, including intelligent assistants.The direction facing the central control, such as seats, windows, etc., is also very widely used, and includes various parts inside and outside the car, and the required supply is very large.

In addition to the realization of necessary functions, it also provides many additional advantages for smart touch. Here are a few points. The first point islightweight. Touch switches can achieve exquisite design and increase the degree of freedom of design.The second point is more beautiful, the pattern can be arbitrary, the size and shape of the keys, including characters and trademarks can be matched arbitrarily, the appearance is very beautiful and fashionable, and it will not fade.The third point is that the operation is more convenient. Unlike the multi-layer menu integrated on the touch screen, it can be operated directly.The fourth point is that in theory, the touch switch does not have any mechanical parts, it will not wear out, and its life will be longer.Sensing components can be placed behind the insulating layer to seal against the surrounding environment and prevent contamination by dust, water, and oil.

Taisil Micro also found the realization elements related to smart surface and smart touch. One is perception. Perception requires sensors. Currently, there are several identification methods, including capacitance, resistance, inductance, optics, etc. Taisil Micro uses capacitive and Resistive/piezoresistive fusion technology, this technology is relatively mature.Another aspect is in terms of feedback, including vibration, sound, and the display of LED ambient lights.

In response to this market technology trend, Taisil Micro has also made a layout on the product side:

The first is TCAE's 11, which is a simple touch switch, including the identification of capacitive buttons, which is a relatively traditional touch; the second is TCAE31, which features integrated capacitive touch and combined pressure touch. , combined into one, TCAE31 is also the world's first integrated solution of two touch methods.There is also the TCAE35 for advanced smart surfaces with integrated CAN FD interface.

TCAE31 is a pressure + capacitive touch dual-mode SOC, let me explain its internal structure.On the pressure side, because the weak signal of the resistive bridge needs to be collected, this involves a more refined design of the entire signal chain, including small signal processing, acquisition and subsequent digital processing.At the same time, two touch methods are integrated, and the touch methods can be used in combination to further improve its reliability.

The combination of pressure and capacitance methods further improves the reliability of button judgment and can create some differentiated applications.Here is a demonstration of the actual case. Taisil Micro tries to avoid showing the logo or customer information, and it looks more realistic.This solution is the way TCAE31 integrates capacitance and pressure sensitivity. When pressing, it needs a certain amount of force to have feedback and response.If you touch it with your hand, like the traditional capacitive type, it will have the phenomenon of false touch, but the method of adding pressure will avoid misoperation and improve its safety.

Lack of "core" is difficult but still needs to be faced

For the entire chip ecosystem, Taisil Micro tool chain provides corresponding combination tools from the evaluation of the entire product, engineering to mass production, which can provide customers with more comprehensive support in all aspects.

Xiong Haifeng also analyzed the overall situation of the future automotive chip market:

At present, all automotive-grade chips, including touch-control chips, are in a relatively tense state. Specifically, there are several factors for automotive-grade touch-control chips.

First, the consumption continues to increase. More new cars are using smart touch, and the number of chips used in each vehicle is also increasing.

Second, the development speed of the entire supply chain is limited. The entire demand for automotive-grade chips is rising, and the upstream has formed an echelon of the supply chain. Therefore, the speed of the entire expansion, including the speed of production expansion, cannot match the current stronger demand.For touch chips, the learning curve and development curve are relatively long, and the threshold is relatively high. First, the certification of the car control chip, including the design related to other car regulations, and the operation cycle of several long chains is relatively long.Secondly, the process of algorithm development to maturity is very long, and the debugging process is also more complicated.

Third, each project needs to be debugged and customized in algorithm, software and hardware.

Taisil Micro's product planning in the area of ​​automotive regulations includes touch products, as well as MCU ambient lights, including power management chips, including the design of power chips for tail lights in human-computer interaction.At the same time, through MCU and some logic chips, Taisil Micro takes MCU as a main direction, but for some peripheral devices of MCU, including power supply, signal chain and other analog products are also laid out and gradually to the direction of vehicle regulations develop.