Submission + - Chipmakers to carmakers: Time to get out of the semiconductor Stone Age (fortune.com) 1
BoredStiff writes: Chipmakers turned their production back toward the automaker because many of the micro chips used in everything from electronic brake systems to airbag control units tend to rely on obsolete technology often over a decade old, and when the pandemic hit, these processors where in short supply. Chipmakers are telling car companies to wake up and modernize their micro's, however, most systems in cars are safety-critical and need to perform in practically every situation regardless of temperature, humidity, vibrations, and even minor road debris, because of that, the tried and true is better than new and improved.
Also, the old are MORE readily available. (Score:1)
Globalfoundries is an example: They only make older chips.
Also, to be frank, you simply don't need powerful modern system, to control just a part of electromechanics. Even a 30 year old CPU will do it just fine.
And it will cost a tiny fraction of a modern equivalent. With, as you sad, all kinks worked out, decades ago.
Now entertainment systems and such are a different story. But there you can just drop in basically a smartphone platform, and be done with it.
The origin of all this is literally the just-in-ti