At CES 2024, at the just concluded launch event, Intel announced that it would make deeper breakthroughs in software-defined architecture, on-board power management, and chiplet-based chiplet technology in the field of in-vehicle systems. To put it simply, the high-performance information and entertainment experience you experience on desktops and laptops will be moved into the car at an accelerated pace, which is undoubtedly more important news than the release of mainstream PC processors.
We had the honor to interview Jack Weast, Intel academician, vice president and general manager of Intel's automotive business unit at Intel's first pre-communication meeting, and asked him to talk more about more details of Intel's automotive business expansion from three dimensions, and some of the envisaged practices have also been carried out in some Chinese auto brands.
Let the car run like a PC
The traditional automotive electronic system operation mechanism is often built on a single ECU model, which means that each new function to join the new ECU support, in the domain type architecture and the future of the first integrated architecture into the future of the general trend, every time to use a new ECU is obviously unreliable, if it can be like a PC, ECU has a strong performance, through the software definition can achieve the increase of functions, naturally no better, a new software-defined architecture is naturally put on the agenda.
The premise of software-defined architecture is the need for powerful processing chips, so Intel officially released the first AI-enhanced definition of automotive-grade SoC chips, which are specifically designed for automobiles and support software-defined concepts, including workload consolidation, virtualization, containerization and a series of functions that are only available in data centers.
The reason for using data center-level functions is that in-vehicle SoCs need to face more problems with the combination of virtualization technologies and specific functions than PCs. For example, a PC usually only uses a maximum of 2 or 3 monitors, but a car may use dozens. Intel has already benefited from investments in the AI PC space, and these AI PC ISV ecosystems can also be introduced into the in-vehicle intelligent cockpit to accelerate the industry's upgrade.
Not only that, Intel announced that it has partnered with Zeekr to become the world's first automaker to commercialize the deployment of AI-enhanced automotive SoC, Chinese automakers have begun to have a stronger lead in the field of software-defined architecture, Zeekr will first apply it to the concept of enhancing the living room experience, in the future Zeekr models, easy to run different office software, ** conference, AI voice, and even AI PC-like creative functions, will be further practiced.
An Conghui, President of Geely Group, Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, and Jack Weast, General Manager of Intel's Automotive Business Unit
The three bigwigs gathered together.
And this set of operation will not only be exclusive to Intel chips, similar to PC hardware from different manufacturers, automotive intelligent cockpit can also be achieved in a similar way, x86 open software and hardware ecology allows it to naturally have a huge application ecosystem, thanks to Intel in x86 and data center field has accumulated a lot of experience, can optimize the task allocation plan and priority in the vehicle system, so as to ensure the reliability of system operation. At the same time, it also means that the in-vehicle systems based on the Intel ecosystem can also be diversified, including AUTOSAR, Linux, Windows and Android can all run on the same hardware platform.
Power management is unified
Power management is experiencing similar issues with mainstream users moving from desktops to laptops. Early notebooks often encountered system-level battery management issues when using desktop processor chips, such as when to let the CPU go on low-power standby, when to turn off the screen, and when to call only part of the core. Today's notebooks have been able to solve the power management problem very well, out of the development path completely different from the desktop processor, the on-board ECU from desktop X86 to vehicle-level X86 has undoubtedly become a new key point.
Intel has developed a series of energy open standards to address similar problems encountered in in-vehicle systems, such as whether ADAS ECUs should be running when parked, appropriate to wake up, or to save energyCan the in-vehicle infotainment system only call some functions when parked, so as to achieve the unity of energy saving and experience.
To this end, Intel announced a new open standard in collaboration with SAE, which will further bring the concept of PC compatibility to the intelligent system of the car. By integrating multiple ECUs in the car for energy consumption management and intelligent scheduling according to the same energy consumption standards of AI PC, the benefits of energy saving will be very eye-catching.
Make your extensions diverse
One of the best ways to improve the efficiency of the execution of features is to start with the hardware. At present, the problem encountered by many automobile manufacturers is that SOC customization is expensive, resulting in most functional customization areas being opened. Intel announced that it will be the first company to produce chiplet-based automotive products and chiplet-based products, providing users with full scalability. Automakers can customize unique features or their own chiplet IP, and Intel can help them incorporate into the roadmap, package, test, and verify them before handing them over to automakers.
For example, Chinese automakers can bring their own chiplets to Intel's assembly and test site in Chengdu, and Intel can incorporate them into the SoC to achieve 3D stacking, which is not possible with ordinary foundries. Intel has partnered with a very well-known semiconductor research institute to help Intel's chiplet packaging technology meet all the requirements of the automotive industry so that customers can take this important step.
Take x86 to the next level
Compared to its competitors, Intel architecture has been widely used in gaming, productivity, applications, and other fields. Especially with the introduction of AI PCs, Intel will soon have the largest AI deployment, which can drive the development of the entire product ecosystem. What's more, Intel is also the first company in the industry to offer chipset-based products. Traditional monolithic solutions face lower yields, higher costs, and the flexibility and top-down scalability customers need. Intel has successfully solved these problems by adopting a triple architecture, ensuring flexibility for scaling.
The openness to the software ecosystem also allows Intel to match different application environments. Intel does not require manufacturers to force the use of specific operating systems, advanced processors or algorithms, so it also provides customers with an ideal open platform to use the ideal open platform to realize software-defined vehicles in a truly open ecosystem, and promote the entire automotive industry to take a step towards intelligence.
And for consumers, as the Intel automotive ecosystem moves forward, we will soon be able to get the exact same experience on a PC in the car, including more new features by installing software, seamlessly running Steam triple-A titles in the car, and enabling in-car office,** Calls and other functions that no longer need to be exclusive to some models, as well as a general AI model, make a smart car look like a computer, and turn a smart car into a computer, and it is also x86 architecture, which is quite exciting to think about.