Months after Intel’s CEO announced plans to incorporate artificial intelligence into “everything,” we’re starting to get a clearer picture of where artificial intelligence will go first. Today, the company announced an AI chip for the automotive sector, or as Intel describes it, “the first generation of AI-enhanced software-defined automotive systems on a chip.” Intel also announced the acquisition of an energy management company and is working to standardize battery power for electric vehicles.
Intel has been competing with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices for the market for processors and other hardware needed to fuel a boom in artificial intelligence. Now, it is turning to artificial intelligence PCs, arguing that AI is more secure when running on PCs than on the Internet.
These companies are also competing in the automotive space because it is believed that cars are the next great software platform. Jack Weast, vice president and general manager of Intel Automotive, said Intel’s new automotive chips are designed to enhance in-car experiences such as navigation, voice assistants and vehicle control.
The first company to sign up to install these chips in its vehicles is Zeekr, the electric vehicle sub-brand of China’s Geely Automobile. (Geely is also the parent company of Volvo.) The first Zeekr car powered by Intel’s AI hardware will launch later this year.
“We’re bringing artificial intelligence computers into cars,” West said during a briefing with reporters last week. He then gave a bit of a reality check, saying, “But we can’t just put PCs in cars. As I mentioned, we know that automakers need to be able to redesign their vehicles to be software-defined.”
Zeekr is the first company to sign up to install these chips in its vehicles
The company aims to launch a “family” of system-on-a-chip (SoC) for these future software-defined vehicles (SDV), with the first products launching by the end of 2024. Intel didn’t name any other car customers outside of Zeekr, but said it’s in active talks with a number of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers – sorry for using all the abbreviations).
The auto industry is facing many unique challenges as it tries to cram more sophisticated computers into cars to cope with the mass adoption of electric vehicles and the development of more advanced software. It’s a cliché to say that cars are becoming like smartphones on wheels, capable of updating software via over-the-air updates and increasingly relying on complex superconductors to perform basic functions. But this is also true.
Photo by Qu Jinwei/VCG via Getty Images
But West said the effort to build software-defined cars still has a long way to go — mostly because Intel has yet to make its mark on the frontier. “No one has really done properly defined software yet,” he said. “We have a unique perspective and a unique set of capabilities that we believe can help the industry transform vehicles into truly software-defined vehicles.”
Intel says its SoCs are in 50 million cars on the road, powering infotainment displays and dashboards. Starting with Zeekr, the company will prove to various car companies that its artificial intelligence-enhanced chips can help usher in a new era of software-defined cars.
“No one has really done properly defined software yet.”
The company promises that vehicles equipped with Intel’s artificial intelligence chips will have better voice assistants, improved video conferencing capabilities and video gaming options for back-seat passengers. Instead of fumbling through multiple menus and sub-menus to turn on certain features, West said you can tell your car directly to turn on certain features. Another possibility is improved safety features such as a driver monitoring system for hands-free driving. West said that cars equipped with Intel’s artificial intelligence system can even “proactively enable” safety features that have been turned off while driving.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for AI to enhance the vehicle experience and make the technology less obtrusive,” he added, “making it more predictive and more seamlessly integrated into the driver or passenger experience.”
Energy management and electric vehicle battery size also play an important role in Intel’s CES presentation today. The company is acquiring Silicon Mobility SAS, “a fabless automotive chip and software company that designs, develops and deploys electric vehicle energy management SoCs.” The aim is to help electric vehicles move from being bulky, expensive, mineral-rich first transition to lighter, more manageable batteries.
West envisions electric vehicle batteries that are lighter and use fewer minerals but still offer the same or better range than the current generation. Intel said it is co-chairing a new committee with SAE International to develop new standards for electric vehicle power management.
“The battery is now the heaviest and most expensive component in the vehicle,” West said. “Frankly, today’s vehicles remind us of the first generation of laptops.”
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