Infineon Technologies has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch a virtual platform for evaluating automotive microcontrollers (MCUs) in the cloud, shortening the evaluation cycle from weeks to minutes without relying on physical hardware.

Infineon (Korea CEO Seung-soo Lee) unveiled an AWS-based virtual MCU evaluation platform on the 23rd.

The company stated that this platform eliminates hardware dependency to lower evaluation costs per user while supporting hundreds of concurrent users worldwide.

The explanation is that while hardware-based MCU evaluation has previously acted as a development bottleneck, the demand for cloud-based evaluation has increased as the importance of development speed grows with the spread of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs).

Thomas Schneid, Vice President of Software, Partners, and Ecosystem Management at Infineon, said, “This cloud-based platform enables customers to experience microcontrollers firsthand in the early stages of development. In particular, it will be helpful in evaluating new MCUs, such as new RISC-V-based products in the future.”

The platform is an AWS open source solutionIt is based on the 'Virtual Engineering Workbench'.

As a solution utilized by customers in the automotive and manufacturing sectors for digital toolchains, hardware virtualization, and infrastructure management, it combines with Infineon's semiconductor technology to provide a cloud-native virtual evaluation environment.

With a browser-based interface, it eliminates the need for local tool installation and supports a consistent workflow regardless of the operating system.

In addition, testing can be performed in an independent cloud environment without affecting other users, and immediate feedback is provided throughout the evaluation process.

The platform supports two workflows: Quick Mode and Expert Mode.

Quick Mode provides a fast test that immediately verifies MCU performance with a pre-configured reference application.

Expert Mode provides a browser-based virtual machine development environment that includes compilation, flashing, debugging, and performance analysis capabilities, enabling the transition from evaluation to deep prototyping without a local toolchain.

In addition, it is equipped with automation capabilities that enable Infineon product teams to package and launch new MCUs, as well as features for utilizing evaluation data analysis for product planning.