Chip design firm Arm Holdings Ltd. is bringing the latest generation of its central processing unit architecture to the automotive industry with the launch of its new, safety-enabled Arm Automotive Enhanced range, based on Armv9.

The new chips, which are said to deliver server-class performance for artificial intelligence in vehicles, are being launched ahead of a new Compute Subsystems ecosystem developed especially for the automotive industry. This will enable automakers to reduce their development times drastically and deliver new, AI-powered experiences for vehicles up to two years earlier than was previously possible.

It’s also launching virtual prototypes of its latest chips before the physical silicon versions come available, enabling developers to get started much earlier than before.

The chip design firm, which doesn’t actually manufacture CPUs itself but instead licenses the basic architectural designs to other chipmakers, said the automotive industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Consumers are demanding greater autonomy from their vehicles, meaning they need to incorporate more intelligence than before. This, combined with the trend toward electric vehicles, means that a fundamental rethink of in-vehicle product development is needed.

Responding to this, Arm is announcing a new generation of Arm Automotive Enhanced or Arm AE processor designs based on its most advanced Armv9 architecture. The new chip designs will mean automakers can finally take advantage of the advances in AI, security and virtualization enabled by the latest generation of Arm’s technology.

The new chips include the Arm Neoverse V3AE, which makes Arm’s high-performance, energy-efficient architecture for server-class performance available to automakers for the first time. The new chip will help to enhance the performance of AI-accelerated advanced driver-assistance systems, the company said.

In addition, Arm announced a range of v9-based Cortex-A processors tailor made for the automotive industry. These include the Arm Cortex-A720AE, which is said to provide sustained performance with the flexibility to support a wide range of software-defined vehicle applications, and the Arm Cortex-A520AE, which is a more power-efficient version designed to support functional safety features at scale. There’s also the new Arm Mali-C720AE chip blueprint, which is said to be a more configurable image processing chip to support demanding computer vision applications.

To support these new chips, Arm is also rolling out a range of configurable system intellectual property that will support its broader ecosystem in delivering scalable systems-on-chip for high-performance automotive use cases.

Arm CSS for Automotive

In line with its push to accelerate chip design in other areas, such as servers and PCs, Arm has announced that it’s expanding its Neoverse Compute Subsystems ecosystem to the automotive industry.

The company first announced Arm CSS last year, providing enterprises with a lower-risk and more rapid path to developing customized infrastructure based on its most advanced chip designs. Billed as a “total design ecosystem,” Arm CSS makes the company’s designs available to customers in a more convenient and accessible way, with pre-integrated and pre-verified blueprints that lay out basic designs for various data center use cases.

The idea is that customers can use those blueprints as a starting point for their own chip designs, refining them to create more specialized chips with greater power and efficiency for very specific workloads. In doing this, the company says that Arm CSS can significantly reduce development costs while accelerating time to market for customized SoCs.

Arm is now bringing CSS to the automotive industry with Arm CSS for Automotive, and will deliver a range of pre-integrated and pre-validated configurations of its Arm AE, optimized for high performance, power and size, using the most cutting-edge foundry processes. The company said the first Arm CSS for Automotive subsystems will be delivered next year.

Virtual prototypes

Arm’s automotive ambitions don’t stop there. Recognizing the long road automakers face in developing applications for its customized silicon, the company plans to offer developers the chance to take a shortcut by using virtualized prototypes of its latest chips before they become available.

The company explains that automotive chip design cycles are linear. Traditionally, the IP is always delivered first, and then the silicon development begins, with the first physical chips arriving one or two years later. It’s only once the physical chips arrive that software developers can get started building their applications.

But that will no longer be the case, for Arm has announced a new approach that involves virtual prototyping. The Arm Automotive Enhanced or Arm AE IP portfolio gives developers a way to get started long before the first physical chips arrive. Through Arm AE, it will provide virtualized versions of its newest chips that developers can use to design their applications, so they’ll be ready to roll the moment the physical silicon becomes available, dramatically speeding up development times.

Arm said it’s partnering with the likes of Amazon Web Services Inc., Cadence Design Systems Inc., Correlium Inc., Siemens SE, the Autoware Foundation, BlackBerry Ltd., Elektrobit Automotive GmbH, Kernkonzept GmbH, LeddarTech Holdings Inc., Mapbox Inc. and Tate Technologies Inc. to make this happen. The virtualized platforms will be designed for a range of specific vehicle functions, the company said.

Arm said today’s announcements are a crucial step that will allow the automotive industry to unlock new opportunities and accelerate time to market for the next-generation of software-defined vehicles, paving the way for a future in which cars, trucks and buses are more intelligent.

Images: Arm