OmniVision Group and Horizon Robotics join hands to deeply develop intelligent vehicles

On November 30, 2020, OmniVision, a world-leading Chinese semiconductor design company, and Horizon Robotics, an edge AI chip company, signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing. The two parties will work together to provide the industry with complete visual solutions for the smart cockpit and smart driving domains, empowering OEMs to create differentiated advantages and helping China accelerate the pace of automotive intelligence. 

OmniVision's image sensors and advanced digital imaging solutions are at the forefront of the industry, while Horizon Robotics has core advantages in automotive-grade AI chips and artificial intelligence algorithms. According to the agreement, in the field of smart cockpits, the two parties will work together to create smart cockpit products that deeply integrate software and hardware around functions such as multi-mode interaction, driver monitoring, and in-car monitoring; in the field of smart driving, the two parties will focus on advanced driver assistance (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) to accelerate the platform technology research and development of smart driving mass production solutions.

At present, the visual solution jointly created by the two parties for the smart cockpit field has been put into use on mass-produced models of China's top OEMs, and more matching solutions will be developed in the future. In the field of intelligent driving, the two parties are also working closely to promote the commercialization of their advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) cooperation results as soon as possible.

OmniVision is a leading Chinese semiconductor design company in the world, providing a variety of solutions such as image sensors, touch displays, energy-efficient power management, and interface management. In the automotive market, OmniVision provides a full range of automotive-grade CMOS image sensors (CIS) and image processors (ISP) solutions, covering various applications of vehicle-mounted cameras. OmniVision's leading image technologies, such as the fourth-generation automotive PureCel® Plus pixel, DCG (dual conversion gain) technology to reduce motion imaging artifacts under wide dynamic HDR, separate pixel technology and HALE engine to suppress LED flicker (LFM) and achieve wide dynamic imaging at the same time, Nighthawk (Nyxel®) technology to optimize near-infrared imaging, miniaturized wafer-level camera modules (CameraCubeChip™), etc., have won numerous awards and promoted the technological development of the industry.

In the field of smart cockpits, OmniVision offers the most comprehensive products in the industry, including global shutter image sensors ranging from 300,000 to 2 million pixels or even higher, multiple RGB_IR image sensors that cater to different scenes during the day and night, and the only OV2312 dual-mode image sensor that combines RGB_IR and Global Shutter. OmniVision's unique near-infrared (NIR) enhancement technology Nyxel, miniaturized wafer-level camera modules (CameraCubeChip) and Global Shutter products that support functional safety (ASIL) can help customers reduce power consumption, facilitate design, and improve safety.

In the field of intelligent driving, OmniVision also provides machine vision (MV) image sensor solutions ranging from 1.3 million to 8 million. In response to the many complex scenarios faced by ADAS and autonomous driving, OmniVision has specially developed the HALE (HDR and LFM Engine) engine, which can achieve 140dB HDR while having the ability to suppress LED flicker (LFM). Corresponding to different platform and algorithm requirements, there are a variety of filter arrays (CFA) such as RGGB, RCCB, RYYCy, etc. to choose from. It is also in the leading position in the industry in terms of power consumption, size, functional safety (ASIL), CyberSecurity, anti-motion artifacts and other functions.

Wu Xiaodong, senior vice president of OmniVision, said: "Automobile is a market that OmniVision attaches great importance to. We have been investing heavily in the development and commercialization of relevant technologies, and have also been highly recognized by global OEMs and Tier 1 customers. This process is inseparable from the close cooperation with platform manufacturers and partners. Therefore, we are very pleased to reach a strategic cooperation with Horizon Robotics, a leading company in automotive AI chips. Through the strong combination of both parties, we will create competitive smart cockpit and smart driving solutions to serve our common customers."

Horizon is a global leader in edge AI chips, with leading AI algorithms and chip design capabilities. Following the successful launch of China's first automotive-grade AI chip, Journey 2, which achieved a major technological breakthrough in domestic automotive AI chips, Horizon launched a new generation of high-performance automotive AI chip Journey 3 in 2020 to provide general AI computing power for in-vehicle intelligent applications. A single Journey 3 chip can support the application of 6 cameras, not only supporting multi-mode interactive AI software in the smart cockpit domain, but also ADAS software in the smart driving domain. Horizon is about to launch a more powerful Journey 5, which is aimed at high-level autonomous driving scenarios. A single chip has an AI computing power of 96 TOPS, supports 16 cameras, and can support L3-L4 autonomous driving.

Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, mentioned: "The cooperation between Horizon Robotics and OmniVision aims to jointly create high-quality, cost-effective products and solutions for mass production by leveraging their respective core strengths. With Horizon Robotics' high-performance, low-power hardware and software solutions, combined with OmniVision's expertise in the field of image sensors, the two parties will work together to achieve pre-installed mass production of more models in the future, while creating a safer and more comfortable driving experience for consumers."

At present, China has entered an era of core technology innovation, which provides a rare historical opportunity for the growth of hard-core technology-innovative enterprises. In the future, OmniVision and Horizon Robotics will continue to work together to create innovative smart driving products with ultimate experience. While committed to empowering OEMs to create differentiated advantages, they will also provide car drivers and passengers with excellent travel experience and accelerate the arrival of the smart driving era.