OpenSynergy Usheres in the Next Era of Autonomous Devices with Virtualization for ARM Cortex-R52

ARM announced that it is developing a software hypervisor for the ARM Cortex-R52 processor.

The Cortex-R52 transforms a single chip into multiple virtual machines, capable of executing different software tasks simultaneously. This approach addresses the increasing software complexity in devices such as autonomous vehicles and industrial control systems, isolating critical safety functions from systems requiring less stringent control requirements. It also manages complexity and reduces costs by consolidating applications onto fewer electronic control units (ECUs).



“Mass-scale autonomous vehicles will be designed with dramatically improved ECU compute capabilities and the ability to safely manage more complex software stacks,” said Richard York, vice president of embedded marketing at ARM. “The Cortex-R52 is purpose-built for this, featuring hypervisor-based software isolation that protects critical safety features while ensuring lightning-fast task execution. This will enable the development of high-performance autonomous vehicles that drivers can trust.”

The Cortex-R52 adds hardware support for virtualization to the Cortex-R family of processors while maintaining all the features required for hard real-time systems. The ability to maintain deterministic execution within the hypervisor provides an ideal solution to the challenges posed by concurrent real-time systems within diverse robotic applications.

OpenSynergy's software architecture is designed for microcontrollers, such as domain controllers. This hypervisor technology enables multiple real-time operating systems and AUTOSAR systems at different ASIL levels to run in parallel on the Cortex-R52.