SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- January 28, 2003 -- The Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc., today announced that its parent, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, has joined both the FlexRay™ and the Safe-by-Wire consortia. Mitsubishi Electric joined these consortia as part of its continuing commitment to the worldwide automotive market to help its customers improve product reliability and safety, as well as lower their development costs.

"Customer demands for new safety, reliability, and comfort systems in next-generation automobiles are rapidly increasing the complexity of automobile subsystem designs," said Richard Sessions, director of embedded systems at Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. "We believe these consortia are developing the most effective standards for solving these challenges."

The FlexRay Consortium (www.flexray.com) is an alliance of automotive and semiconductor manufacturers working together to develop an advanced communication technology for high-speed control applications. Future automotive applications demand high-speed bus systems that are both deterministic and fault-tolerant, capable of supporting distributed control systems. FlexRay technology is designed to meet these requirements, complementing major in-vehicle networking standards like CAN, LIN, and MOST. Members include leading manufacturers of automobiles, automotive systems, and components, as well as tool, software development, and service companies.

The Safe-by-Wire Consortium develops industry-standard automotive safety bus systems targeted for use in restraint systems for applications including adaptive air bags for driver and front passenger seat positions, knee bolster airbags, weight sensors, and occupant sensors. The consortium is developing bus standards such as ASRB, among others.

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About Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a top-10 semiconductor supplier and ranks among the top-five worldwide suppliers of 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers. The company designs and manufactures powerful embedded MCU platforms for embedded industrial control, automotive, consumer entertainment, and communications applications. Mitsubishi Electric's MCU products include the number one global selling 16-bit, M16C platform - a feature-rich, low-noise, ultra-low power, and code-efficient core that easily scales across customers' end-product lines. Mitsubishi Electric semiconductor global manufacturing facilities, engineering design centers, and marketing and sales centers supplying MCU products to the automotive industry are QS-9000 certified.
Mitsubishi Electric offers an extensive range of semiconductor and system components for the North American marketplace through the Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc., including optoelectronic, microwave/RF, ASIC, ASSP, and memory IC and module products. Additional information on the Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor Group is available at www.mitsubishichips.com.


Trademark Information
Mitsubishi and the Mitsubishi logo are registered trademarks of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in the USA, Japan, and other countries. All other companies and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.


Keywords
Mitsubishi, automotive, FlexRay, Safe-by-Wire, ASRB.

 

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