Domain controllers will become standard equipment in cars, and various forces are accelerating their deployment

In the past, in order to enrich the functions of cars, car companies have been installing various ECUs (electronic control units) on cars. It is reported that from 1993 to 2010, the number of ECUs used in Audi A8 models increased from 5 to more than 100.

Nowadays, in order to promote the intelligent upgrade of automobiles, automobile companies are trying to simplify things and find ways to reduce the number of ECUs. The subsequent changes in automotive electronic and electrical architecture have allowed domain controllers to begin to emerge and gradually enter the fast lane of development.

Domain controllers will become standard equipment in cars, with shipments growing rapidly

As the intelligence and networking of automobiles continue to develop in depth, the traditional distributed electronic and electrical architecture has become somewhat incapable.

In traditional distributed electrical and electronic architecture, a large number of ECUs are used to control different functional modules, and different ECUs come from different suppliers, which makes the continuous upgrade of automobile functions difficult and uneconomical. On the one hand, the later maintenance of the car factory is difficult and cumbersome; on the other hand, since each ECU has an independent communication channel, the wiring scheme of power supply and data distribution is more difficult; in addition, the computing power of each ECU is different, and each ECU needs its own redundant design, which greatly increases the cost of car companies.

As a result, related companies began to push the electronic and electrical architecture towards centralization. According to different needs, the electronic and electrical architecture was divided into several large functional domains, and each domain was built with the domain controller as the functional center.

The vehicle's electrical and electronic architecture divided by function; Image source: Kaiyuan Securities

The domain controller breaks the traditional perception + algorithm + ECU bundled development model. Since the perception data processing of multiple sensors can realize data fusion on the domain controller computing platform, the vehicle can make safer decisions in a timely manner. At the same time, by integrating multiple ECUs into a domain controller, it can also reduce vehicle costs, reduce wiring, reduce weight, and reduce the difficulty of software development and vehicle integration verification cycle, achieving better OTA capabilities. In addition, under such an architecture, the improvement of chip computing power and software algorithms has become the core of automotive intelligent upgrades, which is conducive to promoting the accelerated penetration of automotive intelligent driving.

In short, in the era of intelligent cars, domain controllers have outstanding advantages. For this reason, some people believe that in the next generation of car models, car companies will more or less use domain controllers, and in the future, domain controllers will become the "standard configuration" of future cars.

In fact, many mass-produced models are now equipped with domain controllers. For example, the Geely Xingyue L was officially launched in July this year. It is said that Xingyue L relies on the "CMA Super Matrix" architecture to carry the (cross) domain centralized electrical function architecture for the first time. With the help of the vehicle's core super domain controller, it realizes cross-domain high-speed computing and highly integrated collaborative management of functional domains such as power control, intelligent driving control, chassis control, and cloud collaboration, making autonomous driving control management more centralized, more agile, more reliable, and safer. In addition, the Lantu FREE launched in June this year, the Xiaopeng P7 and Hongqi H9 launched last year, and many other models have applied domain controllers.

Cao Bin, general manager of Neusoft RichAuto, said in an interview with Gasgoo: "Currently, the domain controller solution is widely accepted and truly implemented. More and more car companies and parts companies are beginning to participate in it and provide various creative solutions. So I think this year is a very important time node for change."

When Gasgoo reviewed the mass production progress of products from major domain controller suppliers, it was found that a large number of domain controller products will be intensively mass-produced and installed on vehicles in the next two years, and the shipment volume of domain controllers will see rapid growth.

Of course, it is worth noting that as far as the classic five domains (power domain controller, chassis domain controller, body domain controller, intelligent cockpit domain controller and autonomous driving domain controller) are concerned, the shipment volume of intelligent cockpit domain controller will be the first to explode due to the relatively low difficulty in mass production and relatively controllable costs. The development of autonomous driving domain controller is also quite hot, with many manufacturers involved in the research and development.

However, according to analysis by Zoss Automotive Research, affected by regulations and technological maturity, it is expected that L3/L4 autonomous driving for passenger cars will be difficult to implement on a large scale within 3-5 years. At this stage, OEMs, Tier 1 and chip manufacturers are pushing for the mass production of L2+ autonomous driving cars. It is expected that around 2025 will be the peak period for the mass production of L3/L4 autonomous driving cars. By 2025, the annual shipment of ADAS/AD domain controllers for passenger cars worldwide is expected to reach about 5 million sets.

Whoever wins the domain wins the future. Many parties accelerate their layout to promote technology upgrades

With broad development prospects, the domain controller industry chain has attracted multiple forces to compete for layout.

Needless to say, the old auto parts suppliers. It is reported that the concept of domain controller was proposed by Tier 1 companies such as Bosch and Continental, aiming to solve the bottleneck problems of information security and ECU development. In recent years, these companies have also launched a number of competitive products. Car companies are also making relevant arrangements. They may cooperate with relevant suppliers for research and development. For example, SAIC cooperated with TTTech to develop iECU, or choose independent research and development. For example, Tesla, HW3.0 FSD is its self-developed dedicated domain controller.

In addition, technology companies have also become important participants in this field. It is worth mentioning that in the field of domain controllers, domestic technology companies have risen rapidly in the past two years. Huawei, Baidu, Neusoft Rich and other companies are actively involved in the research and development and application promotion of related products. Take Neusoft Rich as an example. As a start-up company, Neusoft Rich first released three general domain controllers as early as 2019 to meet the development needs of domain controllers for autonomous driving, Internet of Vehicles, and electric drive systems. Now the company has made many substantial progress in the field of domain controllers.

Of course, it should be pointed out that although there are many players in the domain controller field and domain controller products are emerging in an endless stream, there is no perfect "domain". Just as the entire vehicle needs to be continuously upgraded, the domain controller also needs to be continuously upgraded and evolved.

Last November, Neusoft Reach's automotive basic software product NeuSAR was fully upgraded to version 3.0. It is reported that Neusoft Reach NeuSAR3.0 has completed mass production support for multiple DCUs and ECUs, supporting both traditional ECU development and providing rich basic software, middleware and development tools for software development based on domain controllers and new EE architectures. It plays an important role in the whole vehicle domain control system under the new generation of automotive electronic and electrical architectures such as autonomous driving, smart cockpit, chassis power, and body control.

At the same time, Neusoft Reach's new generation of autonomous driving computing platform ecological software package and autonomous driving domain controller X-Box 3.0 were officially unveiled. According to the information, X-Box 3.0 can realize L0-L3 autonomous driving mass production applications for multiple scenarios, including multiple combination functions of in-cabin/out-of-cabin scenarios, L2-L3 forward scenarios, and L3+ parking scenarios. According to Neusoft Reach, the company has obtained fixed-point mass production opportunities for multiple models, and will be mass-produced and launched in 2022.

At the end of July this year, Neusoft Rich launched a new generation of autonomous driving central computing platform. This platform uses four Horizon Journey® 5 chips, supports multi-channel laser radar, 16-channel high-definition cameras, millimeter-wave radar, and ultrasonic radar access, can achieve 360° perception redundancy for the whole vehicle, and provide L3/L4 level autonomous driving functions. It is reported that Neusoft Rich's new generation of autonomous driving central computing platform has been fully released, opening up the entire chain of chips, software, hardware, and algorithms, and will start a wave of full autonomy of autonomous driving domain controllers.

Neusoft Reach autonomous driving central computing platform; Image source: Neusoft Reach

In addition, Neusoft Reach will also release a driving and parking integrated domain controller at the end of August. It is understood that this domain controller can realize the integration of parking and driving functions in the same controller and run simultaneously. By sharing sensors, it can achieve L2+ enhanced perception capabilities and improve safety and user experience. It adopts SOA architecture, pre-installs basic software and middleware, and provides rich development tools for developers with different needs. Developers can quickly enter the application layer development and realize customized function development work on demand.