As 48V power management moves into steering and braking, Allegro is betting automakers will pay for designs that span both voltages
Allegro MicroSystems is targeting the move from 12V to 48V steering and braking with two gate drivers, a magnet-free torque sensor and what it calls the industry’s first single-chip 48V power management integrated circuit (PMIC). Engineers can carry board layouts and software across both voltages, the chipmaker says.
Its AMD89106 (12V) and AMD89186 (48V) motor gate drivers share footprints and register maps. The A17810 torque sensor drops magnets and shielding, making it immune to stray fields from nearby high-current electrics, and calculates steering angle on-chip.
The A81481 combines dual buck regulators, five low-dropout regulators and safety diagnostics rated to the top automotive integrity level, replacing a 12V PMIC paired with a separate pre-regulator. Allegro puts the bill-of-materials saving at up to 50% and will show the chips at electronica 2026 in Munich from 10 November 2026.
“As automakers transition to 48V zonal architectures, engineering teams cannot afford to maintain separate designs for 12V and 48V platforms,” Ram Sathappan, Vice President of Global Marketing and Applications at Allegro, said. “Our footprint-compatible gate drivers, magnet-free torque sensing and the single-chip 48V PMIC bring together the power and sensing solution needed for safety-critical steering and braking systems. Automakers can now scale seamlessly from 12V to 48V chassis platforms, reuse existing software and significantly reduce electronic control unit size and BOM costs.”
Source: Allegro
Source: www.automotiveworld.com
