IT Home reported on January 10 that at today's CES 2024 press conference, Intel announced that it would ".ai everywhereThe strategy has advanced into the automotive market, including the acquisition of Silicon Mobility SAS, a fabless and software company focused on energy management SoCs for smart electric vehicles, the launch of a series of AI-enhanced software-defined automotive system-on-chips (SDV SoCs), and the announcement of a partnership with Geely's premium brand Zeekr Auto to create next-generation intelligent cockpit systems using new SoCs.
IT Home noticed that An Conghui, CEO of ZEEKR, also came to the event site of Intel CES. He said that the time for software-defined vehicles (SDVs) has arrived.
Jack Weast, vice president and general manager of Intel's Automotive Division, said, "Intel is taking a 'full truck' approach to solving the industry's biggest challenges. AI solutions that drive innovation across the entire vehicle platform will help the industry transition to electric vehicles. The acquisition of Silicon Mobility aligns with our sustainability goals while addressing the industry's critical energy management needs. ”
Intel says its SoC has been installed in 50 million cars on the road, powering infotainment systems and instrument clusters. Jack Weast also mentioned that Intel's new SDV SoC is designed to enhance in-car experiences such as navigation, voice assistants, and vehicle controls.
We're bringing AI PCs into cars," and "However, we can't simply put a PC in a car. As I mentioned, we know that automakers need to be able to redesign their models to make them software-defined. ”
Intel says the new AI-enhanced SDV SoC family of chips can address the industry's critical need for power and performance scalability. The SoC family features AI acceleration to enable "the best in-vehicle AI functions," such as driver and passenger monitoring.
Intel showcased 12 advanced feature use cases in the demo – including generative AI, HD** conference calling, and PC gaming, and even run on multiple operating systems simultaneously.
Intel also demonstrated how automakers can integrate legacy electronic control unit (ECU) architectures to improve efficiency, manageability, and scalability—while integrating their own custom solutions and AI applications.
Intel's AI-enhanced SDV SoC combines the best AI PCs and Intel data center technologies needed to support true software-defined vehicle architectures," said Weast.
Intel hopes to roll out a series of SoCs for these future software-defined vehicles, with the first chips to be available by the end of 2024. In addition to Zeekr, Intel has not disclosed any other customers for the time being, only saying that it is actively negotiating with a number of OEMs.