On April 26, MediaTek held a media communication meeting in Beijing and officially released new products of the Dimensity Automotive Platform. Among them, the Dimensity Automotive Cockpit Platform CT-X1 uses a 3nm process, and CT-Y1 and CT-Y0 use a 4nm process, which can be used for smart cockpits. Bringing important breakthroughs in computing power.
At the same time, with the help of 5G NTN satellite broadband technology, which is the first to apply Ku band, in-vehicle 3GPP 5G R17 modem, in-vehicle high-performance Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combination solutions, the Dimensity automotive connection platform can provide a wider range of intelligent connection capabilities.
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The Dimensity automotive cockpit platform also integrates the Armv9 architecture, with built-in Al computing unit and end-side generative Al lightweight technology, which not only meets the Al computing accuracy, but also more efficiently utilizes memory bandwidth and memory capacity.
At the media communication meeting, MediaTek Senior Deputy General Manager You Renjie, MediaTek Deputy General Manager and Automotive Platform Division General Manager Zhang Yutai, MediaTek Dimensity Automotive Connection Platform Deputy General Manager Weizhi Yu and MediaTek Automotive Electronics Division Deputy General Manager General Manager Xiong Jian has been interviewed by many media including Gamingdeputy.
In the interview, Gamingdeputy first asked a question related to the smart car connection platform. We know that the application industry of 5G in automobiles has been talked about for a long time, but it seems that there is no specific solution so far. Eye-catching application scenarios. Now that the R17 and R18 standards are being advanced, what specific application scenarios will 5G have in smart cars?
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Regarding this question, Weizhi Yu, deputy general manager of MediaTek Dimensity Automotive Connection Platform, gave an answer. He said that the application of 5G in smart cars is closely related to the development of the entire ecological chain. It is not just the installation of 5G on the car that has application scenarios, it may also involve regulations and the promotion of the entire 5G network.
Weizhi Yu first took his own life in Europe as an example and said that the network there is very backward. Without network support, how can it be applied? Many car manufacturers were rushing to launch 5G when it was just about to be launched in 2020, but finally found out where the application was, and the same problem happened. This is a behavior that requires the linkage of the entire ecological chain.
Secondly, Weizhi Yu said that 5G itself is not a problem. Some operators are already considering cutting off 4G or even turning off 4G. In other words, the implementation of 5G itself is not a problem and must be supported by the entire ecological chain. Now that Release 17 and 18 have been launched, it is more critical how we can better let the end users experience the application environment in the car.
I paid for 5G, and I want real benefits. There are things that customers can directly feel, such as my relatively large amount of data and relatively short delays, but there are also some things that end customers can’t feel, such as support for autonomous driving.
Weizhi Yu gave a vivid example. Big data and large bandwidth are one aspect of 5G itself, but the most important factor is its real-time nature, which will bring about some key applications, such as autonomous driving providing big data support. 5G big data, including some more relevant applications, is just a matter of time, not if, but when.
Regarding this issue, Xiong Jian, deputy general manager of MediaTek's Automotive Electronics Division, also added that 5G application scenarios are actually very needed now. For example, from the perspective of a single screen, its application is not special. If it is a single screen, a single OS, and a single user, there is actually no rigid need.
But now there are more and more screens in cars. Each screen hosts an OS, and each OS hosts multiple applications, which will be opened at the same time. For example, the front passenger is playing a video, the center console is playing navigation, the back seat is playing video, and even the two screens in the back are playing video. If the chip capability was relatively weak before, and different domain controllers are used to do it, it is indeed a single video. There is no need for this, but now the chip capability is very strong. One chip can support 6 screens and multiple operating systems.
For example, if four videos are opened at the same time, the superimposed scenes will require a very wide bandwidth, and 4G will definitely not work. Therefore, now in a car, one chip can support multiple screens, multiple OSs, and multiple scenarios, so when combined, it requires 5G.
In addition to the 5G connection platform, Gamingdeputy also asked another question, that is, about the advanced process. Since the Dimensity car cockpit platform CT-X1 has adopted the 3nm process, will the demand for advanced processes in cars be more urgent than in mobile phones? Will the most advanced manufacturing processes be used first in automotive chips in the future?
In this regard, You Renjie, senior deputy general manager of MediaTek, said:
MediaTek has established our capabilities in advanced manufacturing processes in the past few years, which is mainly reflected in the entire mobile phone flagship. I think whether future products are for mobile phones, cars, or even other applications, we will continue to maintain the design capabilities of advanced processes and continue to launch the most competitive products.
In fact, regarding the advanced manufacturing process, You Renjie also added to the question raised by another media colleague later. The question from this media colleague is: “The current domestic new energy vehicle market is indeed very busy. The pace of complete vehicle development is very fast. Comparatively speaking, overseas competition is not as strong as domestically. How is the current promotion of MediaTek chips in overseas markets?” “
Regarding this issue, You Renjie first said that MediaTek’s entire Dimensity automotive platform, including cockpits, smart connections, including Modem, Wi-Fi, GNSS, key components, and future smart driving, are all targeting the global market. .
At the same time, You Renjie took the opportunity to further share from the perspective of semiconductors. In the past, automotive cockpit chips were mainly provided by NXP, TI, Renesas, etc., but in the future, cockpit scenarios and smart driving scenarios will also Well, due to the extremely high demand for computing power, advanced processes must be used.
MediaTek's core technology is computing, which includes the computing power of CPU, GPU, and NPU. Behind the computing is the advanced process and the ability to mass produce it quickly. The cost of each advanced process is not something that a small company can handle. of.
You Renjie said that MediaTek has a very good existing platform for these products, and based on such platforms and core technologies, it can continue to invest in future computing platforms and automotive platforms, and then target the global market. This From a mid- to long-term perspective, you can slowly discover that only IC design companies with advanced process capabilities can gain a foothold in smart new energy vehicles defined by generative AI in the future. This is unique to MediaTek in the market. One of the values.
In addition, during interviews, the media also asked questions related to AI. Generative AI has exploded in the cloud in the past, and it needs to be implemented on the side because of limitations in computing power, including issues such as memory and bandwidth. It is still quite difficult, so we see that the application of large models on the end side is still in a relatively early stage. MediaTek has the deployment capability of 7 billion and 13 billion large models. What kind of work have they done to support it? Is it simply making the NPU bigger, or do they have some unique and exclusive technologies?
In this regard, Zhang Yutai introduced that on the terminal side, for example, to solve bandwidth problems, MediaTek has compression capabilities, such as 16 billion to 4 billion. These capabilities are very obvious. In addition, MediaTek also has some algorithm-optimized LoRA technology in it.
“We have seen the parameters of the large models that our friends can now support end-to-side. The current products should not be able to reach 7 billion and 13 billion. There is still a big gap.” Zhang Yutai said.
Generally speaking, AI is changing the automotive industry. Generative AI is empowering a new generation of immersive cockpit experience in terms of human-computer interaction, driving experience, in-car entertainment services, and productivity advantages. For automobile manufacturers, looking for an all-round partner with deep experience in AI, automobiles, chip semiconductors and other fields is a harsh but necessary choice. MediaTek has already shown such potential. As You Renjie said in an interview, MediaTek has accumulated nearly 10 years of experience in the automotive field, and the global market shipments of Dimensity Automotive Cockpit Platform have exceeded 20 million units. Therefore, we can also expect MediaTek to play a more important role in the era of software-defined cars and AI-defined cars in the future.