Who Makes AI Chips For Self Driving Cars?

Self driving car: Forbes

The journey of autonomous vehicles (AV) is not stopping any time soon. Despite some mishaps here and there, these vehicles are here to stay. Probably they are the future of automotive world. It is just a matter of time before our public roads get dominated with the autonomous vehicles.

Companies and research organizations are heavily investing on the AV, both in terms of the software and hardware requirements. When it comes to the latter, the main thing that should concern us is the AI chips used by the autonomous vehicles.

Which companies are dominating the AI chips for the autonomous vehicles? What do we expect from these companies?  Read on as we discuss major companies that are investing in the AI chips for the AVs.

Tesla

When it comes to the autonomous vehicles, the first company that should come into your mind is Tesla. There have been numerous reports about the Tesla Autopilot feature which is beyond the testing phase as it has been embraced on the public roads. Being a major force in the automotive world, we should expect nothing but the best from Tesla in terms of the chip technology.

Tesla has not disappointed as it decided to create its own AI chips for the self-driven vehicles. In 2021, the company decided to manufacture advanced silicon carbide semiconductors and this was mainly motivated by the global shortage of chips .

The Tesla’s AI chip feature a custom-made neural network chip known for its power-efficiency. The company also has a custom Full Self Driving (FSD) which comprises of dual system on a  chip (SoCs).

The company further claims that developing its chip saved it major cost as it was previously buying  AI chips from Nvidia.

Mobileye

Mobileye is Intel’s division that specializes on the computer vision system for the self driving cars. The division makes its own AV and advanced driver assistance (ADAS)  software that  are used in self driving cars.

The company specializes on computer vision technology  which is aimed at giving vehicles human-like vision. The chip is integrated with sensors that allow vehicles to see around. As a proof of the company’s capabilities, they built a custom EyeQ SoC devices which today are used by more than 30 vehicle manufacturers including Audi, BMW and General Motors.

This processor is designed to perform complex AI workloads such as image recognition, data analysis and other elements related to autonomous driving. The ADAs from Mobileye comes with advanced features such as automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, forward collision warning among others. The autonomous driving technology by ADAs is still being tested.

Other than the hardware, Mobileye has also heavily invested on its software side of the AI chip. The company is involved in development of the high definition mapping and localization technology. This is majorly a data-centered side of AI.

Nvidia

As a major player in the AI chip industry, many people tend to assume that Nvidia is doing very little in terms of AV and ADAS. The company is known for its high-performance GPUs which are mainly used for gaming and graphics applications. It has evolved to be a major player in the fields of AI and machine learning, and this is where AI chips for self driving cars come in.

But we have to recognize that the company has made some significant moves in accelerating the market for the self driving  cars chips. The recently established Nvidia Drive Platform specializes on making  AI chips for  autonomous vehicles. For example, the Nvidia Drive AGX system is designed for the level 2 to level 5 autonomous driving. The same platform has the Nvidia Drive PX which also features the level 2+ autonomous driving assistance.

Car makers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Toyota are just some of clients that use Nvidia’s  AI chips for self driving cars.

Xilinx

Xilinx is an American Technology company that is known for manufacturing on-chip systems (SOCs) and programmable logic devices (PLDs). The products from Xilinx are highly configurable and can be customized to perform an array of  tasks in different industries including the automotive industry.

Xilinx has grown to be among the top suppliers of the AI chips for the self-driving vehicles. The chips from the company are majorly data-oriented whereby they collect massive amounts of data about the environment surrounding the vehicle.

The flexibility of the chips from Xilinx means that they can be easily customized to met the needs of different auto makers. Some of the top clients of Xilinx  Baidu, ZF Friedrichshafen and Continental.

Infineon

Infineon is a Germany-based company that specializes in making chips, processors and microcontrollers for power electronics. These products include consumer electronics, industrial electronics and even the automotive electronics.

It is in the automotive electronics category  that Infineon develops chips for the autonomous cars. Their chips are mainly designed to consume low power but still be able to deliver optimum performance. The company has the reputation for developing highly secure chips that are well-protected from cyber attacks.

ARM

This is a British-based  semiconductor company that makes many computing products including the system-on-chips (SoCs and microprocessors.  The chips from ARM have a wide range of applications including automotive industry. Recently, the company has  entered into the self-driving cars whereby it makes microprocessors for these vehicles.

The company has also entered into collaboration with different automakers with the goal of accelerating development for the ADAS suitable for both traditional and modern cars. We expect to see more from ARM in the coming years.

Conclusion

With time, the list  of companies that make chips for self driving cars will be endless. We should expect to see new entrants and more players in this industry.  We also expect big players to add more advanced feature son these chips so us to improve the capabilities of the autonomous vehicles.

And if you want to buy ai chips for self driving cars, ensure that you choose the best suppliers such as ICRFQ.  We are   reputable  distributor of the AI chips in China.

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