Chinese chip designer AutoChips has used multiple IP blocks from local supplier Verisilicon, including AI, for its latest intelligent cockpit domain controller chip.
The Autochips SoC AC8025 including Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) IP, Video Processing Unit (VPU) IP, and Display Processing IP from VeriSilicon. This is part of a move by AutoChips to build a leading brand of domestic automotive electronic chips for the Chinese market.
The AC8025 has eight ARM Cortex-A76 and A55 high-performance CPU cores meeting both AEC-Q100 quality certification and ISO 26262 ASIL-B functional safety certification for the instrument display.
It supports 8-channel full HD camera input and 7-channel full HD distinct displays, as well as 5760×756 long strip screen and high-definition ultra-large screen displays along with a dual-core high-performance HiFi Digital Signal Processor (DSP).
The VeriSIlicon VIP9000 NPU in the cockpit domain controller can be extended to applications such as Face ID, Driver Monitoring System (DMS), and Occupant Monitoring System (OMS). The VIP9000 includes vector and tensor engines for flexible processing of various neural networks with a performance of 1.2 INT8 TOPS. A tiling architecture significantly reduces external data access demands to boost real-time performance and stability of vehicle systems.
The VIP9000 also includes the complete Acuity toolset and supports deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow and ONNX, accelerating application deployment. VeriSilicon’s VPU IP VC8000LE and VC8000D support various video formats including HEVC and H.264.
The Display Processing IP DC8100 meets diverse display application needs and supports ultra-wide displays, while also featuring enhanced security functions like Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) for multiple configurable areas and specific test patterns, ensuring the integrity and accuracy of display content.
The hardware of VC8000LE, VC8000D and DC8100 supports dual operating systems, optimizing resource utilization and enabling rapid task switching, thereby enhancing the performance and responsiveness of in-vehicle entertainment systems.
“VeriSilicon’s high-performance IP portfolio has significantly enhanced the system performance of our intelligent cockpit solutions and enabled more intelligent, immersive cockpit interaction experiences. AC8025 has entered mass production and has already been selected for designated projects by several domestic and foreign car manufacturers, with an expected coverage of 5 million vehicles. AC8025 will drive the upgrade to intelligent cockpits and largely increase the coverage rate of intelligent cockpits, further empowering the domestic automotive industry chain,” said Wenxiong Li, CTO of AutoChips.
“Domain controllers are key to vehicle intelligence. With advancements in AI and machine learning, the future intelligent cockpits will deeply integrate multiple systems, increasing the demand for efficient, reliable and secure IPs,” said Wei-Jin Dai, Executive VP and GM of IP Division at VeriSilicon.
“Our collaboration with AutoChips is another successful launching point of VeriSilicon’s technology in the automotive sector. VeriSilicon continues developing technology to grow with our automotive customer base in this fast-growing and demanding market segment. Our Glass-to-Glass (from camera-in to display-out) intelligent pixel processing IP portfolio offers high scalability to meet the demands of different market segments, ranging from low power consumption to high image quality. Our increasingly comprehensive portfolio of automotive-certified IPs and ISO 26262 certified chip design processes, along with other related technological achievements, will further support our customers in the era of automotive intelligence.”
AutoChips, founded in 2013, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navinfo with R&D staff in Hefei, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Wuhan. It has supplied chips for more than 500 models worldwide, with a cumulative shipment of over 300 million pieces, including over 80 million sets of SoC chips and over 50 million MCU chips.
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