Author: Twin-Turbo Fatty

“We are facing the advent of an era of intelligent cars. Many friends may not be aware of how profoundly this era will change the world,” said Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon, at the Horizon Journey 5 press conference.

From July 2015, Horizon proposed the AI chip concept;
In June 2017, the idea was put to industrial verification and became the first customer of TSMC AI chips in the world;
In December of the same year, the first edge AI chip was launched;
Then in August 2019, Horizon launched China’s first vehicle regulatory level AI chip;
…

After so many years, what kind of strategic and product matrix does Horizon have today?

Combination of Software and Hardware, Good Results

Horizon is the most knowledgeable algorithm company that understands chips, and the most knowledgeable chip company that understands algorithms.

Horizon has designed a high-performance automatic driving processor architecture called BPU (brain processing unit). BPU uses a large number of innovative technologies, including high-performance and low-latency data concurrency processing technology, pulsed array to increase the speed of data parallelism, process computing to make storage and computing no longer distinct, and optimization such as sparseness.

At the same time, by using neural networks for calculation, it can achieve high computing performance and lower power consumption to handle a large amount of data.

Compared with Nvidia Orin-X chip, Horizon’s Journey 5 chip only uses half the chip area and half of the computational resources but can achieve high computing performance and complete a large amount of data processing at lower power consumption.

Currently, Horizon has the Journey series regulatory level AI chips that support L2 to L4 intelligent driving applications and also has the algorithm know-how and mass production engineering experience for full-scenario intelligent vehicle implementation.By optimizing with soft and hard cooperation, Horizon will continue to expand the advantage of algorithm and accelerate the efficiency of product iteration. In addition, Horizon also has a self-developed smart cockpit and smart driving solution to realize the full-scenario capability of intelligent automobiles.

Full-scenario Capability

Currently, Horizon has launched three solutions including Horizon Matrix Mono front-view assistance driving, Horizon Matrix Pilot navigation assistance driving, and Horizon Halo car-mounted intelligent interaction.

Horizon Matrix Pilot Navigation Assistance Driving Solution

This solution can be flexibly adapted to both fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles. It is expected to be equipped and launched in multiple models of four car manufacturers within 2022.

During the Horizon production-level intelligent driving technology experience day, I also participated in the night test of the DEMO car equipped with Horizon Matrix® Pilot.

The DEMO car is refitted from the mass-produced Ideal ONE model, with an additional Horizon Journey 3 chip and 5 surrounding video cameras covering 360° compared to the mass-produced Ideal ONE.

The road scenarios experienced in this night test include:

Following Cruise, Cutin/Cutout Response, Automatic Lane Changing, Automatic Entrance and Exit Ramp, Main Y Junction Of Ramp, Active Overtaking, Large Truck Offset Avoidance, Large Curvature Bend…### Horizon Matrix Mono Forward Driving Assistance Solution

This is a mass-produced 8 million pixel monocular forward-facing ADAS solution. It has been implemented in large-scale production since 2021, and has now been mass-produced and fixed on more than 10 ADAS models of various car companies.

At Horizon’s mass-produced intelligent driving technology experience day, the mass-produced model of this solution revealed was the Changan UNI-V.

This car is equipped with one forward-facing camera and five millimeter-wave radars, which can effectively perceive various targets such as vehicles, pedestrians, lane lines, and traffic signs. Therefore, the Changan UNI-V supports features such as full-speed adaptive cruise control and turn signal lane change.

The intelligent driving system is divided into three steps: perception, decision, and execution. For the cooperation between Changan Automobile and Horizon, Horizon will provide chips and perception algorithms, while Changan Automobile will conduct self-research on decision-making and execution.

Horizon Halo In-car Intelligent Interaction Solution

Currently, the Horizon Halo in-car intelligent interaction solution has cooperated with nearly 50 mass-produced models (including pre-research, fixed-point, and mass production; including UNI-T, GAC E-jet, etc.), and its market share in the intelligent cockpit market with visual perception exceeds 62%.

I have experienced this solution before. Interested friends can watch the video at that time:

The above solutions all use Horizon’s Journey series chips, and use or partially use Horizon’s self-developed algorithms. In other words, Horizon can provide “one-stop service” from hardware to software, supporting both “single-point” and “package” solutions.

If automakers do not want to develop their own technology, they can directly buy a “package”.

How to evaluate product technology capabilities?

Mass production on a large scale is definitely the first criterion for evaluating the technological capabilities of intelligent driving products.

Horizon is currently the only domestic enterprise that has achieved pre-installation mass production of car-grade AI chips. In 2020, Horizon officially launched China’s first year of pre-installation mass production of automotive intelligent chips, achieving a breakthrough from 0 to 1. Currently, the shipment volume of Horizon’s Journey chip has exceeded 1 million pieces and has obtained 45+ designated projects for pre-installation mass production.

In order to maintain mass production on a large scale, as a Tier1 supplier, Horizon must maintain close cooperation with a sufficient number of strong OEMs and Tier1 suppliers. The OEMs that have reached cooperation with Horizon currently include:

Audi, BYD, Changan Auto, Great Wall Motors, Dongfeng Motor, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Hongqi, Jianghuai Automobile Group, Ideal Motors, Chery Automobile, SAIC Motor Group, and so on…

The Tier1 suppliers that have reached cooperation with Horizon include:

Delphi Technologies, Neusoft Reach, Continental AG, Freetech, Joyson Electronics, Haw Yang, Asia Pacific Microsystems, Inspur Super Computing, and so on…

Up to now, the vehicle models that have been announced to be equipped with Horizon’s Journey chip include:

Changan UNI-T, Chery Ant, IM Auto, Changan UNI-K, Guangzhou Automobile AION Y, Dongfeng Aeolus FREE, JAC Motors Sihao QX, GAC Trumpchi GS4 Plus, SAIC Maxus MIFA concept car, 2021 model of Ideal ONE, Great Wall Haval H9-2022, Changan UNI-V, and so on…

In the end

Looking back at Horizon’s development, we can see its rapid progress today.

Just two days ago, Horizon released two pieces of good news:- One of the achievements of Horizon Robotics is that their advanced driver assistance systems project achieved ASPICE CL2 certification. ASPICE is one of the global standards for evaluating the software development capabilities of automotive industry suppliers, classified into six levels. CL2 certification represents the ability of the company to complete product development work, establish rigorous and comprehensive project plans in advance, and effectively implement project monitoring and management, with the ability to deliver high-quality products on time.

• In addition, Horizon Robotics and BYD announced a partnership, with BYD incorporating the Horizon Journey 5 chip in some of their vehicle models, to create a combination of automatic driving and parking solutions. The first model is expected to be launched in mid-2023.

  

  The recognition of Horizon Robotics’ capabilities and the expansion of their partnership network will contribute to the increase in both the number of car models equipped with their technology and the company’s position as a leading AI chip enterprise in China.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.