Bravo
If ARM was an arm, BRN would be its biceps💪!
Getting flexible
As automotive compute shifts from hardware to software, demand is growing for infotainment and cockpit features. According to Arm, more than 90% of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems use the company’s chip designs. The architectures are also found in various under-the-hood applications, including meter clusters, e-mirrors, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control.
Munich-based Apostera is using Arm’s designs to transform car windshields into mixed-reality screens.
The shift to the software-defined vehicle has also stimulated another IT feature: updates. Historically, vehicle software was not only rudimentary, but also fairly static. Today, that’s no longer the case.
“There’s an opportunity to continue to add to the functionality of the vehicle over its lifetime,” says Laudick.
An expanding range of features, from sensor algorithms to user interfaces, can now be enhanced over-the-air (OTA). As cars begin to resemble personal devices, consumers can expect a comparable update service. As Simon Humphries, the chief branding officer of Toyota, put it: “People want control over their own experiences.”
Laudick likens modern cars to platforms, upon which software and functionality can evolve.That’s an obvious magnet for Arm, whose products and processes are fundamentally about running software.
Carmakers are also becoming savvier about software. For example, General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, is now developing its own computer chips for autonomous vehicles. The company has previously used Arm designs, but is now exploring an open-source architecture known as RISC-V — which is becoming a popular alternative. The instruction set’s low costs and flexibility have created a threat to Arm’s automotive ambitions.
“One executive I was talking to said: ‘The best negotiating strategy when Arm comes in is to have a RISC-V brochure sitting on my desk’,” Jim Feldhan, the president of semiconductor consultancy Semico Research, said last year. “It’s a threat. Arm is just not going to have its super dominant position in five or 20 years.”
Currently, however, RISC-V could be regarded as riskier than Arm’s established standards. In a further challenge to RISC-V, Arm is gradually becoming more open. The Cortex-M processor series, for instance, now allows clients to add their own instructions, while extra configurability has been added to Arm software and tooling.
“We obviously try to control the products reasonably well, otherwise we just end up with a wild west. But there’s been a move in the company in the last several years to create more flexibility in certain areas,” says Laudick.
Mobileye, a self-driving unit of Intel that went public at $16.7 billion last year, is among a growing list of companies applying RISC-V architecture to vehicles. Credit: Mobileye
RISC-V is far from Arm’s only challenger. Established rivals such as Intel and Synopsys are also fighting for a chunk of the expanding market for automotive chips.
Nonetheless, Laudick is bullish about the future. He notes that today’s cars run about 100 million lines of software code, while a Boeing 787 is estimated to have “only” 14 million. By 2030, McKinsey predicts that vehicles will expand to roughly 300 million lines of code.
“I see the vehicle being, without doubt, the most complex software device you will own — if not that will exist,” says Laudick.
I love this part @Tothemoon24!
According to Arm, more than 90% of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems use the company’s chip designs. The architectures are also found in various under-the-hood applications, including meter clusters, e-mirrors, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control.
If I was Arm, I would be incorporating AKIDA, into not just in the Cortex M based MCU's but into the A and R based MCU's as well, just to cover all bases.
https://armkeil.blob.core.windows.n...ide-to-arm-processing-power-in-automotive.pdf
