NXP Semiconductors has announced a new portfolio of multi-channel LED driver ICs for automotive exterior lighting. The automotive industry is increasingly demanding scalable, cost-effective, and flexible platform architectures that can support both traditional and emerging LED lighting functions. This portfolio addresses this need.

LED systems are increasingly being used in automotive lighting to improve efficiency while enabling the implementation of design elements and to support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). LED systems can be used in a wide range of applications, from simple exterior lighting to advanced systems such as adaptive driving beam (ADB), advanced front lighting (AFL), LED matrix front lighting, and LiDAR systems.

Automotive manufacturers and lighting system suppliers face strong market demand for advanced products for the high-end market, as well as simple or low-cost products for the mid- and entry-level markets.

▲NXP homepage

Despite the broad market demand, pursuing differentiated and cost-effective designs for narrow markets has been a significant challenge for automotive manufacturers and lighting system suppliers. This has led design teams to opt for platform solutions supporting highly scalable architectures rather than designing inflexible, single-product designs.

NXP's LED driver IC portfolio is designed to provide maximum design freedom for early development, volume production, and future system upgrades at minimal cost. The portfolio consists of two product families: the 'multiphase boost ASLx500' and the 'multichannel buck ASLx416 driver IC'.

When used together, these two product families offer a single platform architecture capable of driving virtually any LED configuration and channel while maintaining low system cost. Both products are based on NXP's globally recognized ABCD9 technology, a high-voltage mixed-signal integrated platform for automotive applications. This technology optimizes digital integration, helping to achieve maximum robustness and design simplicity with a small number of external components.

“Automakers want a future-proof lighting platform that can be used across a wide range of platforms to support a wide range of new lighting capabilities for increasingly connected and automated vehicles,” said Jens Hinrichsen, senior vice president and general manager of Networking and Car Access at NXP. “NXP has chosen flexibility and scalability as design elements for our new LED driver IC portfolio. Leveraging our deep understanding of automotive LED lighting architectures, we have developed this portfolio to meet the automotive industry’s stringent standards for cost-effectiveness, performance, quality and robustness.”