Staff Writer
New Delhi: Semiconductor major NXP Semiconductors unveiled its latest automotive radar system-on-chip (SoC), SAF8444, designed to bring advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) capabilities to a wider range of vehicles, including entry-level and economy-class models.
The company said the new radar chip builds on its 28nm RFCMOS one-chip radar architecture and is aimed at supporting Level 2 and Level 2+ autonomous driving features while reducing overall system costs and design complexity for automakers and suppliers.
According to NXP, the SAF8444 integrates radio frequency, processing and radar sensing functions into a single chip, enabling high-performance and power-efficient operation. The solution is expected to simplify thermal management requirements and ease vehicle integration, making it particularly suitable for electric vehicle (EV) platforms.
“NXP’s SAF8444 strengthens our one-chip radar portfolio with a solution that balances performance, power efficiency and cost,” said Meindert van den Beld, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Radar & ADAS, NXP Semiconductors. He added that the product would help customers meet increasingly stringent safety requirements while lowering system costs, supporting broader adoption of ADAS technologies.
The launch comes as automakers face growing regulatory and consumer demand for advanced safety features. Future safety protocols such as Euro NCAP 2030 are expected to require improved detection capabilities in challenging conditions, including low-light environments and adverse weather.
NXP said the SAF8444 addresses these requirements by enabling perception-level processing directly at the radar sensor, allowing camera and radar data to be fused on the chip itself. This reduces dependence on centralised ADAS computing systems, lowers power consumption and helps simplify vehicle electronic architectures.
Manufactured using NXP’s 28nm RFCMOS technology, the SAF8444 operates across the 76–81 GHz automotive radar frequency band and supports short-, medium- and long-range sensing applications. The chip is designed for functions such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot detection and parking assistance.
The device incorporates an Arm Cortex-A53 applications processor, an Arm Cortex-M7 real-time processor and NXP’s proprietary radar accelerator technology. It also features advanced radar interference mitigation capabilities and supports anti-jamming algorithms intended to ensure reliable performance in increasingly crowded radio frequency environments.
NXP said the chip is backed by its radar software ecosystem, including software development kits, safety and security frameworks, and development tools aimed at accelerating product deployment.
The SAF8444 is currently in pre-production and is targeted at next-generation front and corner radar systems. Development support for selected customers is already available, the company said.
