TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and Japanese chipmaker Renesas have announced to jointly develop microcontrollers with eFlash used in self-driving and environmental-friendly cars, reported Economic Daily News on September 2. The chips will be manufactured using 28nm process technology, compared to the 40nm line widths of current state-of-the-art microcontrollers. The partnership will see TSMC offering HKMG (High-k Metal Gate) technology and Renesas providing MONOS (Metal/Oxide/Nitride/Oxide/Silicon) eFlash technology. The companies aim to start shipping samples to customers in 2017 and launch mass production in 2020. Driverless vehicles with more advanced microcontrollers will have better performance and safety, including fuel efficiency and information accuracy.