Active and passive safety systems that reduce the risk of accidents, as well as their consequences, are becoming more sophisticated with an increasing electronic component count. Active safety applications such as electric power steering, electric parking brakes, active suspension, anti-lock braking systems (ABS) increasing rely on sensors, brushed and brushless motors and microcontrollers to improve performance and reliability. Passive applications like seat-belt tensioners and airbags also benefit from the latest technology.
While electro-mobility is bringing evident benefits for greener driving, it also admittedly hard to hear electric cars driving at low speeds in front of schools, at pedestrian crossings or traffic lights for instance. With the clear duty to ensure traffic safety and to protect people, especially those who are visually impaired or rely on their hearing, the automotive industry is asked to meet international requirements as positively as possible, providing electric cars with an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System. An Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) is designed to emit vehicle warning sounds and alert pedestrians to the presence of electric drive vehicles. These include hybrid (HEVs), plug-in hybrid (PHEVs), and full battery electric vehicles (BEVs) travelling at low speeds, especially in the lowest speed range beyond which the noise generated by rolling tires can be easily heard.
Our products and solutions
ST offers a range of both standard and dedicated devices to enable all these chassis and safety applications. These include standard low-side, high-side, bridge and pre-drivers, Smart Power devices for driving solenoids, brushed, brushless and stepper motors; dedicated ICs for actuator driving and one of the industry’s broadest ranges of Power MOSFETs. We also supply System Basis Chips (SBC) for fully integrated smart-power solutions, MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes, and powerful 32-bit automotive microcontrollers to provide reliable control.
