The MIPI Alliance, an international organisation that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, announced that it has mapped a course to address the automotive industry’s needs for high-speed data interface specifications. The 'MIPI A-PHY' physical layer specification is already underway to meet 12-24 gigabits per second (Gbps) speed requirements. When complete, these specifications will serve a broad spectrum of the industry’s connectivity needs such as lidar, radar, and camera integration for autonomous driving.

MIPI stands for mobile industry processes interface. MIPI Alliance has initiated the development of a physical layer (up to 15m) specification targeted for Autonomous driving system (ADS), Advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) and other surround sensor applications.  After 24 Gbps, the alliance looks to begin support for higher data speeds, including that of over 48 Gbps for display and other use cases.

Ian Riches, executive director - Global Automotive Practice with Strategy Analytics said, “Automakers around the globe are amid a tremendous wave of innovation related to autonomous driving, ADAS, new fuel-economy standards, vehicle electrification and connectivity, new business models, new forms of in-car infotainment and more. With so many new applications to be supported in and across the vehicle, the auto industry is under pressure to more simply, efficiently and cost-effectively integrate disparate, high-speed data components from an increasingly large supply base.” In addition to automotive uses, the configuration of the specification will be well suited for applications such as IoT and industrial applications.

Joel Huloux, chairman of MIPI Alliance said, “MIPI Alliance is uniquely positioned to bring its strong knowledge and expertise of developing low electromagnetic interference (EMI) and low power interfaces in mobile to new environments such as automotive and IoT. Mature MIPI interface specifications for the camera, display, sensors and physical layers are deployed in billions of mobile devices and are already prevalent in mobile-influenced industries such as automotive today. As MIPI’s specifications are designed to work together as a complete ‘stack,’ the addition of the longer reach MIPI A-PHY will provide greater ease of integration, resulting in an even richer solution.”

MIPI A-PHY v1.0 is expected to be available to developers in late 2019. The specification will optimise wiring, cost and weight requirements, as high-speed data, control data and optional power share the same physical wiring. The asymmetric nature of the MIPI A-PHY link, its point-to-point topology and its reuse of generations of mobile protocols promise overall lower complexity, power consumption and system costs for developers and automotive OEMs. It’s anticipated that the first vehicles using A-PHY components will be in production in 2024.

Founded in 2003, the organisation is celebrating its 15 years of service with over 300 member companies worldwide and 14 active working groups delivering specifications within the mobile ecosystem.