Peeling the onion of an automotive IC digital twin

This paper defines the modern digital twin in the context of the automotive industry and as it applies to the ICs being deployed therein. Additionally, it surveys the implications arising from the need to use digital twins to connect the virtual and physical worlds for semiconductor suppliers delivering the next generation of automotive capabilities.

Why should I care about digital twin?

The definition of a digital twin, as we think of it today, has many interpretations, so searching "What is a digital twin?" may leave you scratching your head as both industry practitioners and vendors aren’t aligned on its true definition.

Before diving into the specifics around defining a digital twin, there may be some fundamental questions which require attention, such as:

• "Why should I care about digital twin?"
• "Why is digital twin important to my business?"

Electronics continue to disrupt many industries across the globe, and the automotive sector may be the poster child for this disruption. The contribution of electronics to vehicle BOM costs is predicted to explode past 50% by 2030. Accelerated investment fuels this trend and is driven by many factors, ranging from new business models to environmental regulations to the evolution toward fully autonomous, software-defined vehicles.

Many believe that the realization of a fully autonomous vehicle can only be achieved with highly accurate pre-silicon design and verification environments. The reason for this is that the sheer number of scenarios (the scenario state space) is simply too large to tackle through road testing alone. To help paint this picture, let’s run through a quick example.