Automotive Computing Conference: Micron Shipping of Qualification Samples of its Automotive Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 4.1

At Automotive Computing Conference, Micron Technology, Inc. announced shipping of qualification samples of its automotive universal flash storage (UFS) 4.1 solution to customers WW, enabling rapid data access, robust reliability and enhanced safety and security for next-gen vehicles.

Delivering bandwidth of 4.2GB/s — double that of its predecessor — the company’s automotive UFS 4.1 accelerates data access for AI models, enriching the in-cabin experience by powering features such as voice assistants, personalized infotainment and advanced safety alerts. This bandwidth in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles also enables rich data capture from cameras, lidar and radar sensors to upload and feed AI model retraining and enhancement in the data center.

The firm’s automotive UFS 4.1 is built with the company’s 9^thGen (G9) 3D NAND flash memory technology, delivering high performance and capacity and supplying the market with the latest process technology to accelerate AI. With this rollout, Micron G9 NAND is the most advanced NAND in the industry to be qualified for rigorous automotive standards such as the AEC-Q104 ⁽¹⁾ — enabling Micron’s UFS 4.1 to meet the high bar required for automotive quality, safety and reliability.

“As the automotive industry shifts toward greater autonomy and more intelligent in-cabin experiences, robust high-performance storage is foundational to enabling the next generation of intelligent vehicles,” said Kris Baxter, corporate VP and GM, automotive and embedded business unit, Micron. “Micron’s automotive UFS 4.1 is engineered to deliver exceptional safety, reliability and performance, enabling the automotive industry to advance intelligent mobility and unlock AI at the edge.”

Delivering a leap forward in automotive storage performance
As vehicles evolve into intelligent platforms, capabilities such as autonomous driving, enriched cabins and real-time AI applications require bandwidth to start up quickly from ignition, instantly access and swap large language models for generative AI interactions, and log massive volumes of sensor data. High-performance solutions like the firm’s UFS 4.1 are essential to accelerating this intelligence at the source.

Micron’s UFS 4.1 delivers:

Turbocharged read and write speeds: UFS 4.1’s bandwidth offers accelerated sequential read speeds for rapid data access for AI. Enhanced write speeds enable ultra-fast data logging for ADAS models, supporting refinement of perception and decision-making algorithms. UFS 4.1’s high read performance can enable use cases such as rapid switching between GenAI models for in-cabin experiences, allowing system designers to store multiple models while reducing memory requirements — all while providing a low-latency user experience and optimizing costs.
Fast boot times: Thanks to Micron’s G9 technology and proprietary firmware, the firm’s UFS 4.1 offers 30% faster device boot and 18% faster system boot. ⁽²⁾ These boot times enable intelligent systems to rapidly come online when the ignition is engaged, delivering more responsive cockpit experiences.
Ultra-high endurance: The company’s automotive UFS 4.1 offers up to 100,000 program/erase (P/E) cycles for single-level cell mode and 3,000 program/erase cycles for triple-level cell mode, providing the necessary endurance for automotive applications where vehicles may operate for years with millions of write operations from lidar, radar and cameras.
Extended thermal protection: Engineered for harsh vehicle environments, UFS 4.1 provides thermal protection and consistent high performance from -40°C up to 115°C case temperature — extending beyond JEDEC’s standard 105°C to provide manufacturers the opportunity to reduce thermal cooling footprints without compromising reliability for mission-critical autonomous driving.
Advanced host features: The solution offers advanced UFS 4.1 features, including a host-initiated defragmentation feature that leverages advanced algorithms to optimize data workloads for defragmentation to provide fast performance, especially during high-demand periods.

Micron’s UFS 4.1 enables real-time telemetry, intelligent health, safety and security
The company’s automotive UFS 4.1 is engineered to meet the highest standards for automotive applications. The solution achieves Automotive Safety Integrity Level B compliance (ISO 26262) for functional safety. Software development aligned with ASPICE ⁽³⁾ Level 3 and comprehensive product security engineering practices based on ISO/SAE 21434 ⁽⁴⁾ further strengthen quality and safeguard data to meet the rigorous demands of modern vehicles.

The solution provides real-time telemetry with advanced health monitoring and device-level exception notifications, enabling automotive platforms to proactively detect potential issues before they impact vehicle performance. This capability supports predictive maintenance and fleet management while minimizing the risk of failures on the road.

By delivering reliable, high-speed storage, Micron’s latest automotive storage solution enables manufacturers to unlock new AI horizons and accelerate the development of next-gen vehicles, while end users benefit from enhanced safety, smarter in-cabin features and connectivity on the road.

Micron will be at booth 10 at the Automotive Computing Conference (Nov. 13–14) in Munich, Germany, to speak with the firm’s experts.

⁽¹⁾ Claim based on Micron market research finding that Micron G9 NAND is the highest-layered NAND in the industry to be qualified for automotive standards such as Automotive Electronics Council-Q104 (AEC-Q104): Automotive Electronics Council – Qualification standard for multi-chip modules (Q104)
⁽²⁾Based on Micron’s internal testing, comparing Micron’s automotive UFS 4.1 operated in UFS 3.1 mode to Micron’s UFS 3.1 predecessor devices on an external UFS 3.1-compatible platform
⁽³⁾ Automotive SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination) – Level 3 process maturity
⁽⁴⁾ International Organization for Standardization / Society of Automotive Engineers – Road vehicles cybersecurity engineering standard

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