Foton Motor, Freescale announce automotive joint lab

BEIJING, CHINA & AUSTIN, USA: During Foton Motor’s 14th anniversary celebration, Foton and Freescale Semiconductor announced the establishment of the Automotive Joint Lab.

The lab is Foton Motor’s first formal cooperation project in automotive electronics, providing evidence of the enhanced R&D investment and development Foton Motor is making in this area.

The Foton-Freescale Automotive Joint Lab is committed to co-developing silicon, software and system-level solutions for use in the next generation of Foton vehicles. The two companies have agreed to explore joint-development efforts in key application areas, including electric vehicle/hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV) technology and relevant electronic control technology.

Future collaboration will focus on powertrain, chassis and safety technologies. The planned technology collaboration is expected to involve a wide range of Freescale microcontroller (MCU) platforms, including Freescale’s 32-bit Power Architecture™ MCUs, 16-bit S12X and 8-bit S08 devices, as well as analog power management ICs and sensors.

In recent years, automotive electronics technology has greatly enhanced the safety, emissions and economic performance and comfort of vehicles while also making vehicles more intelligent. This technology will also be the main force in driving the development of ‘green’ energy-saving cars.

"Foton Motor has been committed to promoting energy and environmental technology in the automotive industry, and has proved continuous breakthroughs in new energy-driven vehicles over the past years. The opening of the joint lab will provide wings for Foton Motor products to fly into a promising future," said Wu Xuebin, Foton Motor VP and director of the Engineering Research Institute at the ceremony.

"Freescale is a global leading supplier of automotive electronics, and has been at the cutting edge of semiconductor product development in terms of technologies and standards," Wu Xuebin said.

"The cooperation with Freescale will further improve the product competitiveness of Foton Motor, and will help Foton develop sustainable competitive edge in the future. The development and application of automotive electronics will improve the product performance and quality of Foton in terms of safety, energy efficiency and environmental protection, especially the development of electronic control in the new energy automotive industry will further help Foton enlarge the market share."

"Through close collaboration and joint research and development, Freescale and Foton intend to drive breakthroughs in cost-effective body electronics, powertrain and HEV solutions into next-generation automotive system designs,” said Reza Kazerounian, senior VP and GM of Freescale’s Microcontroller Solutions Group.

"This will be a productive technology partnership with Foton, one of China’s largest independent auto manufacturers. We expect that it will not only help Foton maintain its leadership in the field of commercial vehicles but will also proactively enhance R&D in new energy vehicles."

To support the Foton-Freescale Automotive Joint Lab, Freescale will provide silicon products, development tools, reference platforms and dedicated support resources. In the future, Foton-specific designs and products will be developed.

Freescale will bring new leading technology and system-level solutions, incubating the joint lab’s own R&D capability on electric vehicle, hybrid electric vehicle, powertrain system and automobile safety.

Freescale is focused on speeding up the growth in China's automotive electronics market by leveraging its advantages in IC integration, manufacturing and quality. Meanwhile, as part of this strategic cooperation, Freescale will help Foton enhance its R&D competence in China, and potentially shorten its time to market.