NXP and Rimac Technology Co-Develop Centralized Vehicle Architecture for Advanced Domain and Zonal Control
- Consolidation of 20+ ECUs into just three units reduces complexity and material costs
- S32E2 processor offers high performance with 8 Arm Cortex-R52 cores at 1 GHz
- ISO 26262 ASIL D compliance ensures highest automotive safety standards
- Platform enables efficient integration of multiple vehicle applications including dynamics, charging control, and body electronics
- None.
Insights
NXP's collaboration with Rimac for centralized vehicle architecture strengthens its position in the rapidly evolving SDV semiconductor market.
This strategic partnership between NXP and Rimac Technology represents a significant advancement in vehicle electronics architecture that addresses the automotive industry's shift toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs). The jointly developed solution, built around NXP's S32E2 processor series, enables the consolidation of over 20 electronic control units into just three centralized units – a dramatic simplification of vehicle electrical systems.
The technical architecture showcases impressive capabilities: the S32E2 integrates 8 Arm Cortex-R52 cores running at up to 1 GHz, with support for up to 64MB of non-volatile memory. This processing power enables efficient integration of multiple vehicle systems – from dynamics control to energy management – in a deterministic real-time environment.
What makes this development particularly valuable is its solution to a critical industry challenge: how to consolidate vehicle functions without compromising safety or performance. The ISO 26262 ASIL D compliance (the highest automotive safety integrity level) with core-to-pin isolation ensures that multiple applications can run independently without interference – essential for safety-critical automotive systems.
For automotive manufacturers, this architecture delivers three key benefits: reduced vehicle weight through hardware consolidation, simplified software integration across previously separate systems, and decreased material costs while increasing computational capabilities. Rimac's implementation in a hypercar program provides a high-profile showcase, with planned scaling to other vehicle segments.
This collaboration strengthens NXP's competitive position in the automotive semiconductor market by extending their comprehensive S32 platform with a solution specifically designed for the architectural transition happening across the industry. By offering a complete system solution that includes processors, networking components, and power management, NXP is addressing the complex integration challenges facing automakers as they move toward more centralized, software-defined architectures.
- Rimac Technology is the first to deploy NXP’s S32E2 real-time processor series in its upcoming next-generation ECU platform for software-defined vehicles (SDV)
- NXP and Rimac’s jointly developed centralized architecture consolidates more than 20 electronic control units into just three centralized units
- Collaboration enables OEMs to adopt SDV architectures with advanced domain and zonal control applications
EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, June 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI), the worldwide leader in automotive processing, today announced its collaboration with Rimac Technology, a leading automotive industry supplier specialized in high-performance control systems, to advance centralized architectures for SDVs. The jointly developed solution features NXP’s S32E2 processors, which are part of NXP's comprehensive S32 Automotive Processing Platform, designed for current and future connectivity, security and safety challenges in automotive. The S32E addresses the vehicle’s need for high-performance deterministic real-time domain and zonal control in a multi-applications environment.
The rapid evolution of new centralized vehicle architectures and the consolidation of electronic control units (ECUs) demand a high level of safe application integration. NXP and Rimac Technology’s jointly developed architecture provides an easy-to-use platform that allows the development and efficient integration of many different vehicle applications such as vehicle dynamics and charging control, energy and thermal management, and body electronics.
The S32E2, at the heart of it, allows the consolidation of over 20 ECUs into just three centralized units. The S32E is part of NXP’s high performance multi-application processor range and integrates 8 Arm® Cortex®-R52 processor cores running at up to 1 GHz, high-resolution analog-to-digital converters and the capability to support large amounts of non-volatile memory, up to 64MB.
“OEMs and tier 1s have faced the challenge of either consolidating multiple applications within legacy microcontrollers or deploying excessive redundant computing power to achieve application independence”, said Ray Cornyn, SVP and General Manager, Automotive Processors at NXP. “The NXP platform allows developers to quickly implement SDV features for advanced real-time applications. The S32E2 enables the efficient integration of numerous applications within an easy-to-debug environment, where task isolation and determinism are inherent to the design.”
“The growing complexity of vehicle systems with numerous ECUs requires a solution that decreases weight, manages power consumption and simplifies software integration”, said Ana Martinčić Špoljarić, Business Unit Director for Powertrain and Electronics at Rimac Technology. “With NXP’s S32E2 real-time processors, we found the ideal high-performance and automotive-grade solution that allows us to integrate several units into a single domain controller, reducing complexity and material costs for automotive OEMs while significantly increasing computational power.”
The ISO 26262 ASIL D compliant S32E2 series serves the diverse automotive OEM needs by providing safe and secure high-performance processing that is essential for SDVs. Its comprehensive safety offering with core to pin isolation mechanism ensures freedom of interference and task level fault recovery throughout the device. The integrated, powerful Hardware Security Engine provides secure boot, key management and security services.
Rimac Technology will primarily leverage the new ECU platform in a hyper car program, with plans to scale up in different vehicle segments and alternative mobility sectors. Find out more about the collaboration with Rimac Technology.
System Solutions
The S32E2 extends NXP’s comprehensive S32 automotive processing platform and fits between the recently introduced S32K5 microcontroller family and the 5 nm S32N real-time super integration processors.
Combined with NXP’s networking and system power management solutions and the middleware, OSes and other software from the world’s leading automotive software providers under the NXP CoreRide platform, these system solutions help automakers overcome software and hardware integration barriers, while scaling development efforts for new architectures in SDVs.
S32E2 System Support
NXP offers system support for S32E2 processors to accelerate customer designs including the FS86 ASIL D safety system basis chip (SBC) and PF5030 power management IC (PMIC) with enhanced safety features and in-vehicle networking support with Ethernet switches and PHYs and CAN transceivers, along with other analog companion chips such as the GD3160 IGBT/SiC high-voltage inverter gate driver and MC3377x battery cell controllers.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) is the trusted partner for innovative solutions in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communications infrastructure markets. NXP's "Brighter Together" approach combines leading-edge technology with pioneering people to develop system solutions that make the connected world better, safer, and more secure. The company has operations in more than 30 countries and posted revenue of
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For more information, please contact:
| Americas and Europe | Greater China / Asia |
| Andrea Lempart | Ming Yue |
| Tel: +49 175 610 695 1 | Tel: +86 21 2205 2690 |
| Email: andrea.lempart@nxp.com | Email: ming.yue@nxp.com |
About Rimac Technology
Rimac Technology is a Tier 1 technology supplier to the automotive industry, fully owned and operated by the Rimac Group. The company is a leading provider of electrification technologies, specializing in the engineering, development, production, and supply battery systems, electric drive units and electronic control units. Having developed the technology behind the world’s fastest electric hypercar – the Nevera – Rimac Technology delivers cutting-edge solutions to some of the most prestigious OEMs globally. Based at the state-of-the-art Rimac Campus in Zagreb, the company operates a world-class R&D and production hub, manufacturing high-performance components at scale for the premium and luxury automotive markets. Headquartered in Croatia, with offices in the UK, Rimac Technology currently employs more than 1,400 people.
For more information, please contact:
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
press@rimac-technology.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/91ff075c-5f0c-42bf-a4b7-f6b027f33853
FAQ
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