Author: Michelin

Recently, people have been saying that smart cars are becoming more like consumer electronics. One of the most obvious manifestations is that cars have started a chip war like computers and mobile phones.

In the new car models released and delivered this year, 8155 has become a “high-frequency word”: WmAuto W6, Great Wall WEY Mocha, NIO ET7, XPeng P5, and many others are equipped with Qualcomm 8155 chips. The upcoming Cadillac LYRIQ will use a more powerful 8195 chip, making the chip war more intense.

On November 29th, Jidu Auto announced that it will work with Baidu and Qualcomm to use the 4th generation Snapdragon automotive digital cockpit platform on Jidu’s first vehicle to be launched in 2023, using the 5nm process SA8295 chip. This is also the first appearance of a 5nm SoC chip in a domestic car model, which has raised the ceiling of car chips.

8295 ≈ 81555 ≈ Apple A152

Friends who pay attention to cars may know that the high standards and strict requirements of car regulations and the long R&D cycle of cars make car software and chips slower than consumer electronics such as mobile phones and tablets. When mobile phones have gradually begun to use 5nm chips, 7nm SoC chips have just landed in new mass-produced car models this year.

Therefore, when Qualcomm released the 4th generation Snapdragon automotive digital cockpit platform at the beginning of this year, and announced the series of 5nm process SoC chips SA8295, it sparked a wave of “automotive chips entering the era of 5nm process”. The debut of this chip made people wonder which company will get it.

So what performance leap can the 8295 chip bring?

Currently, the SA8155 chip used in new car models can represent one of the highest levels of 7nm process car chips, with NPU computing power reaching 4 TOPS. The 5nm process SA8295 chip has an AI computing power of 30 TOPS, which is nearly 8 times that of 8155. Pixel support capability and 3D rendering capability are also 3 times that of 8155. Compared with mobile phone chips, it may be more vivid: Apple A15 bionic chip based on 5nm process has 15 billion transistors and an AI computing power of 15.8 TOPS. That is to say, the computing power of the 8295 chip is equivalent to two A15 chips used in iPhone 13.

What Can the Performance Bursting 8295 Bring to Jidu Motors?

Of course, for us, stronger chips and in-cabin platforms can bring more important experiences than these seemingly cold and boring parameters.

The fourth-generation Snapdragon Automotive Digital Cockpit Platform is the central system for high-performance computing, computer vision, AI, and multi-sensor processing. It supports the integration of multiple ECUs and domains, including the instrument panel and cabin, augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HUD), multimedia, rear-seat displays, electronic rearview mirrors, and in-car monitoring services. With more powerful computing power, AI capabilities, and “one-chip-to-multi-screen” function, it can not only provide rich graphics and multimedia support, but also make the reality of the instrument panel, central control screen, and AR-HUD clearer and smoother. The AI capabilities of the chip also enhance the situational awareness and safety functions in the cabin.

Through in-cabin monitoring, child and passenger identification, and object detection, the ultra-high-definition panoramic monitoring of road-side safety in the cabin provides intelligent driving assistance capabilities without interference. At the same time, the cross-domain fusion attribute of the cabin platform can make the linkage between the various units and domains in the cabin more smooth, the multimodal interactive situational awareness ability is improved, and the integrated safety management program can provide a higher level of ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) required for domain fusion.

In addition, the platform also supports the Soft SKU function of Qualcomm’s car to cloud service, which can continuously provide consumers with the latest features and functions throughout the entire life cycle of the car through OTA upgrades.

All these capabilities provide further possibilities for the function and experience of the cabin.

Why is Jidu Motors the Debut of the 5nm Car-Grade Chip?

More than a decade ago, when feature phones evolved into smartphones, the new operating system and interaction methods raised the requirement for the basic computing power of smartphone chips. Nowadays, intelligent cars are similar as the upgrade of various sensors and interaction scenarios also forces the rapid evolution of in-car chip computing power.

When the competition among intelligent cars makes the competition of in-car chips increasingly fierce and when every company is racing against the clock to get the 8155 chip to mass production, what makes Jidu Motors choose the leading-edge Qualcomm 8295 chip? Or why Qualcomm chose Jidu Motors, a young car company that has been established for less than a year, to make the domestic debut of the 8295 chip?Perhaps compared to the new forces and independent brands that have become mature, Jetta Automotive may seem too young. However, it is precisely because of this “youth” that Jetta can start from scratch and develop its own products around the fourth-generation Snapdragon automotive digital cockpit platform. Jetta uses the SIMUCar software integration simulation sample car form to simulate the entire vehicle environment adapted to software development through software and hardware decoupling, and pre-validate the development and validation of intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving. In this way, based on the capabilities customized by chips, the capabilities of the chips can be maximized.

Moreover, Jetta Automotive, backed by Baidu and Geely, is not lacking in experience despite its youth.

Intelligent cars are a two-way trip between the cabin and intelligent driving, and only when the level of intelligent driving is improved can the driver be freed from the task of driving and have more energy to focus on the content and experience of the cabin. At the same time, the intelligent cabin can also provide more thoughtful safety reminders to intelligent drivers to ensure driving safety.

Therefore, for Jetta Automotive, backed by Baidu Apollo, the latest technology and test data of Apollo intelligent driving have created a protective moat for its intelligent driving, and also provided space for the development of intelligent cabin functions. On the other hand, Baidu’s accumulation over the years in artificial intelligence and Internet ecology has also provided Jetta with the ability to develop and define AI products.

In the trend of chip integration in car chips, we look forward to seeing a change in the intelligent cockpit, from computing power to experience upgrade, from quantitative change to qualitative change.

So what different functions and experiences will Jetta Automotive, which holds Baidu Apollo in its left hand and Qualcomm 8295 chip in its right hand, bring to the cabin? According to the timeline previously given by Jetta, we should be able to see the prototype at the Beijing Auto Show next year.

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.