Micron launches Automotive-UFS-4.1

ADT editorial team ADT editorial team

22 December 2025 - 11:09

2 min

“As AI models become multimodal, vehicles are rapidly evolving into data centers on wheels, and this transformation brings significant memory and bandwidth challenges,” said Chris Jacobs, Vice President & GM, Automotive & Embedded Market Segments at Micron.

Micron

Micron launches Automotive-UFS-4.1 with data rates of up to 4.2 GB/s, targeting the growing performance demands of AI-driven, connected and software-defined vehicle systems.

Automotive-UFS-4.1 is designed for vehicle platforms that must process large volumes of data quickly, reliably and over long operating lifetimes. Micron’s latest memory solution delivers a maximum bandwidth of 4.2 GB/s — roughly twice the performance of the previous UFS 3.1 standard — and targets applications such as advanced driver assistance systems, automated driving functions, connected cockpits and edge-AI platforms inside the vehicle.

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As vehicle architectures become more centralised and software-defined, storage is taking on a strategic role. Beyond pure data throughput, automotive memory must support continuous operation, predictable performance and functional safety under harsh environmental conditions.

Fully operational immediately at vehicle start-up

Automotive-UFS-4.1 is engineered to be fully operational as soon as the vehicle starts. The memory solution supports the parallel execution of multiple AI models, handles high sensor data throughput and is qualified for long-term operation under extreme thermal conditions. These characteristics make Automotive-UFS-4.1 particularly relevant for centralised vehicle architectures, where storage plays a critical role in data logging, model deployment and overall system integrity.

Chris Jacobs, Electrical and Computer Engineer, studied at Stanford University and at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Micron first presented Automotive-UFS-4.1 at the Automotive Computing Conference in Munich in November 2025, positioning the solution as a key building block for next-generation software-defined vehicles. “As AI models become multimodal, vehicles are rapidly evolving into data centers on wheels, and this transformation brings significant memory and bandwidth challenges,” said Chris Jacobs, Vice President & GM, Automotive & Embedded Market Segments at Micron. “Given that typical automotive systems often demand real-time inference and fast cold-boot capabilities, significant pressure is placed on both memory and storage subsystems.”

Technical capabilities:

Automotive-UFS-4.1 introduces a range of performance, endurance and safety-related enhancements:

· Interface and bandwidth: Up to 4.2 GB/s, doubling throughput compared with UFS 3.1

· Start-up performance: Storage boot times up to 30 percent faster; overall system start-up improved by around 18 percent

· Operating temperature: Qualified for -40 °C to +115 °C, exceeding the JEDEC requirement of 105 °C

· Endurance: Up to 100,000 program/erase cycles in SLC mode and around 3,000 cycles in TLC mode

· Performance stability: Host-initiated defragmentation to maintain consistent throughput

· Safety and security: ASIL-B compliance under ISO 26262, software development aligned with ASPICE Level 3, and cybersecurity measures in line with ISO/SAE 21434

· Monitoring: Integrated telemetry and error detection for predictive maintenance and system reliability

Target applications in modern vehicle architectures

Micron positions Automotive-UFS-4.1 for use cases with sustained and intensive storage requirements. These include central compute units for ADAS and automated driving, where large volumes of sensor data must be captured, stored and processed locally. The solution also supports edge-AI workloads such as object recognition or voice processing, enabling AI models to run directly in the vehicle and to be updated dynamically.

In infotainment and navigation systems, the higher bandwidth enables faster loading times and parallel access to media, map data and personalisation profiles. Automotive-UFS-4.1 is also relevant for fleet and lifecycle management: its robust architecture supports long-term data logging, over-the-air updates and the provision of telemetry data for maintenance and system monitoring.

Why Micron relies on G9 NAND

Automotive-UFS-4.1 is based on Micron’s ninth-generation 3D NAND technology, known as G9 NAND. According to the company, this is the first NAND generation of its kind to meet the automotive AEC-Q104 qualification standard, which verifies mechanical, thermal and electrical robustness for use in complex vehicle systems.

G9 NAND combines high storage density with long endurance and stable operation across an extended temperature range from -40 °C to +115 °C. This enables continuous data capture, storage and local AI model updates during vehicle operation. Its compact structure also allows smaller form factors while increasing capacity — a clear advantage in space-constrained vehicle architectures.

Meeting automotive safety requirements

Micron’s Automotive-UFS-4.1 solution is designed to comply with key automotive safety and security standards:

ISO 26262 (ASIL-B) for functional safety
ASPICE Level 3 for structured software development
ISO/SAE 21434 for cybersecurity in connected vehicles

Combined with integrated monitoring and telemetry, the memory platform is intended to support early fault detection, system analysis and reliable operation in safety-critical automotive environments.

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