Industry Information

Continental AG (Conti) has selected Infineon Technologies' safety chips for its new generation of digital tachometers VDO DTCO. With Infineon's safety chips, Continental can efficiently meet the high safety standards set by the European Union for these systems in 2009. Infineon is responsible for supplying Continental with safety controllers certified according to the "Common Criteria EAL5+ high" standard, which guarantees reliable certification of digital tachographs.

Based on its core competence in the fields of security, contactless communication and integrated microcontroller solutions (embedded control), Infineon has successfully launched a portfolio of semiconductor-based security products for a wide range of chip card and security applications. Infineon makes full use of this expertise to continuously improve security in the mobile and networked world, such as mobile payments, system security and reliable electronic identity documents. for 25 years, Infineon has been introducing innovative hardware-based security solutions and has been the number one supplier in the market for 15 years.

Dr. Lutz Scholten, Head of Continental's Tachometer, Telematics & Communication Systems and Services business units, noted, "We chose Infineon because of its deep expertise and extensive experience in areas such as hardware security and automotive electronics."

Dr. Stefan Hofschen, President of the Chip Card and Security Division of Infineon Technologies AG, said, "We are pleased that Continental has placed sufficient trust in our security solutions. The selection of our security controllers for the new generation of digital tachometers is further proof that our industry-leading security expertise will not only meet the needs of a wide range of chip card applications, but will also increasingly be used in other security systems, with a wide range of promising applications, especially in the automotive industry."

Since May 2006, the European Union has required all newly registered trucks over 3.5 tons and buses or coaches with more than eight seats to be equipped with a digital tachometer. Since October 2012, in accordance with EU regulations, trucks and coaches can only be equipped with the latest generation of safety devices that are less susceptible to tampering and failure. The EU has also introduced electronic "black boxes" to improve road safety by effectively monitoring journey times.

The average number of new truck registrations in the EU is about 500,000 per year. Each vehicle must be equipped with a fixed installation of digital tachometer. This electronic tachometer mainly records the vehicle's total trip, road speed and engine speed, as well as the driver's driving and rest time and other data. All this driving data needs to be kept for at least one year.

Infineon's safety controller for this application was tested by T-Systems, an internationally recognized testing and certification company. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed its high level of security and compliance with the "Common Criteria" - the internationally recognized standard for rigorous evaluation and certification of secure chips.