Micron achieves first LPDDR5 ISO 26262 ASIL-D certification; boost for autonomy

Memory solutions company Micron has received the first International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D certification of memory for its low-power double data rate 5 (LPDDR5) DRAM, which is based on its first-to-market 1α (1-alpha) process node.

With next-generation advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) applications requiring increasing levels of autonomy and safety, this certification validates that Micron’s LPDDR5 meets strict functional safety standards and positions it to enable innovations that will unleash full autonomy in intelligent vehicles.

ADAS-enabled vehicles now run over 100 million lines of code and require hundreds of tera operations per second, rivaling data center compute. Gartner projects the worldwide factory-fitted automotive memory market will grow to nearly $15 billion in 2026, quadrupling from $3.3 billion last year.

At the same time, automakers must comply with strict functional safety standards for electronic systems. Trusted, high-performance memory is imperative for reliably powering safety-critical applications such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and blind-spot detection. It is also key to unlocking ADAS technologies such as autonomous valet parking and ridesharing, 4D digital imaging radar, and hands-free experiences that will pave the way for full Level 5 autonomy.

Filling these needs, Micron’s automotive LPDDR5 memory is now certified by exida, an expert in automotive safety, for the most stringent safety integrity level, ASIL D, under ISO 26262. LPDDR5’s high performance, power efficiency and low latency also provide the headroom to keep pace with rising bandwidth requirements of next-generation automotive systems.

Now in mass production in 48- and 96-gigabit densities, Micron’s LPDDR5 offers:

• Proprietary on-chip safety features, including capabilities to detect and alert the system of systematic and random hardware faults so the vehicle can intelligently react and respond.

• Up to 50% increase in data access speeds, enabling near-instantaneous decision-making from intelligent vehicles’ multiple sensors and inputs, such as radar, lidar, hi-resolution imaging, 5G networking and optical image recognition.

• More than 30% improvement in power efficiency, minimizing power consumption for electric and conventional vehicles and resulting in greener, longer-range transportation with lower emissions.

While the ISO 26262 standard does not explicitly require memory to be ASIL-compliant today, Micron has gone the extra mile to achieve this industry-first certification and architect its proprietary on-chip safety features, recognizing how critical memory is to safety applications.

These capabilities significantly reduce the burden for automakers by minimizing their need to build in additional mechanisms to mitigate risk, thereby simplifying system design and accelerating time to market. Beyond the product certification of LPDDR5 for ASIL D, exida has also certified Micron’s process capability to develop any synchronous DRAM product according to ISO 26262 requirements. This capability equips the company to release additional solutions in its portfolio of automotive solutions based on ISO 26262 soon.

These certifications follow Micron’s 2021 milestone of sampling the industry’s first LPDDR5 hardware-evaluated to meet ASIL-D suitability requirements and of establishing an office of functional safety. The office is dedicated to collaborating with customers on the memory requirements of designing safe automotive systems through Micron labs in Munich, Detroit, Shanghai, Tokyo and beyond.