Read our full Embedded World coverage Car dashboards with touch control may be just around the corner as silicon supplier Atmel introduces its first standard product capacitive touch controller that is fully qualified for the automotive market.
Areas where touch control is expected to be used in vehicles includes controls for windows and rear-view mirrors.
"As the automotive industry demands more touch-enabled interfaces for their systems, it becomes increasingly more important to ensure products are fully certified for this market," said Jon Kiachian, senior director of touch products for Atmel.
Based on its QTouch capacitive touch technology, the AT42QT1110 is an 11-key capacitive touch controller intended for automobile applications such as GPS, window and mirror control.
The details of the qualification mean that products are developed in a facility that is compliant with the ISO-TS-16949 and QS-9000 standards.
Another aspect is the firmware which is written according to the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association C (MISRA C) standard and qualified according to the AEC-Q100 (Automotive Electronic Council) standard.
The Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) document is also available upon request.
The AT42QT1110 is also available on non-automotive grade silicon for use in industrial and home appliance applications.
These devices offer an identical feature set to the automotive-qualified devices without the AEC-Q100 qualification.
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