A way from the boom-and-bust cycles of consumer electronics, the global automotive industry continues to thrive as an outlet for semiconductor vendors and equipment makers. According to market-research company IC Insights, automakers consumed $11.5 billion of automotive ICs in 2004, and their appetite continues to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10%. For semiconductor vendors, the growing diversity of automotive applications creates opportunities for microcontrollers, DSPs, and hybrids that combine elements from both disciplines, leaving designers to ponder the eternal "best-choice" question. This situation is especially true for new applications, which offer no code or toolset legacy. At the same time, automotive-electronics designers recognize that with the proliferation of automotive ECUs (electronic-control units), they must view the vehicle's architecture as a whole and not simply keep adding new subsystems into what then becomes a structural nightmare.
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