Intel is expanding its Internet of Things horizons with the acquisition of Italian startup Yogitech S.p.A, which designs systems to ensure the functional safety of semiconductors used in the automotive industry.

Ken Caviasca, who is vice president and general manager of platform engineering and development in the Internet of Things (IoT) Group at Intel, was giving the job of blogging about the acquisition. He explained that the growing segment for “advanced driver assistance systems” (ADAS) – which means things like assisted parking and so on – requires something called “functional safety” to ensure that, well, everyone is safe.

Yogitech’s systems are apparently able to assist with that, as they help chip designers gain the necessary industry certifications in markets like the automotive sector, Caviasca added.

He provides an example of how it works: A designer looking to sell a digital signal processor in the ADAS market would require something called an “Automotive Safety Integrity Level” (ASIL) certification. Yogitech explains in this old press release from last year how it can help with that, by providing the required failure modes, effects and diagnostic analysis (FMEDA) report.

Admittedly, this is hardly the most thrilling aspect of getting self-driving cars on the road, but Intel’s Caviasca assures us it’s extremely important. Yogitech basically provides a kind of quality assurance service, by making sure that the processors in self-driving car systems work as they’re supposed to, and can alert humans in a timely manner if something goes wrong. Put that way, it’s obviously an essential step in getting people to trust automated vehicles with their lives.

Once the acquisition is completed Yogitech will be folded into Intel’s growing IoT unit. Intel hasn’t said exactly how it plans to integrate the company’s technology, but a recent collaboriation between it and Altera Corp. (which Intel also just acquired) saw the two companies embed a “lockstep” safety solution in the Nios II embedded processor. According to Altera, this feature helps to reduce risk in design lifecycles while helping to simplify certification for applications in the realms of industrial and automotive safety.

According to Caviasca, this concept of “functional safety” is set to catch on in other IoT segments besides self-driving cars. He reckons it’ll become an essential requirement for as much as 30 percent of the IoT market by 2020, including such things as computerized buildings and factories.

Intel is in the midst of shaking up its IoT operations anyhow – just yesterday, the company confirmed that Doug Davis, SVP and GM of its IoT Group, is to retire. No replacement has been named so far, but Davis will stick around until the end of the year to smooth the transition.

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