Imagination and Ambarella collaborate to develop ASIL-level human-machine interface visualization technology for autonomous vehicles

According to foreign media reports, British semiconductor and software design company Imagination Technologies has reached an agreement with edge AI semiconductor and software company Ambarella. Ambarella will be able to use various IMG B series multi-core GPUs, including the use of ASIL-B certified IMG BXS GPUs in safety-critical applications.

Image source: Ambarella

Ambarella will integrate the IMG BXS GPU into the CV3 automotive artificial intelligence (AI) domain controller system-on-chip (SoC), enabling this series of chips to implement powerful advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and L2+ to L4 autonomous driving (AD) systems, thus providing more powerful environmental perception capabilities in poor lighting, weather and driving conditions to ensure the driver's field of vision and provide machine perception and decision-making capabilities for autonomous driving.

By combining Ambarella's autonomous driving AI and high-performance computing capabilities with Imagination GPU's human-machine interface (HMI) visualization functional safety (FuSa) rendering technology, ISO 26262 ASIL-B automotive-grade functional safety use cases are achieved. The FuSa technology includes block region protection (TRP) and workload duplication redundancy (WRR) for safety-critical workloads. IMG BXS GPUs can provide functionally safe graphics processing and computing capabilities for automotive-grade visualization solutions such as cluster graphics and surround view systems (SVS).

Chris Day, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Ambarella, said: “To achieve higher levels of vehicle autonomy, we need to combine greater system performance with trusted functional safety capabilities. Therefore, based on our image processing technology and CVflow® AI platform, we will add a powerful Imagination automotive GPU to the CV3 domain controller SoC to provide advanced safety-critical driving interactions to ensure safe vehicle operation.”

Tony Smith, VP Product Management, Imagination, says: “Combining Imagination’s FuSa GPU solutions with Ambarella’s leading graphics and AI SoC technology will bring enhanced safety and performance to autonomous vehicles. We and Ambarella are leveraging our combined knowledge and experience to enhance the ADAS and AD capabilities of Ambarella SoCs, further enriching the options available to automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, while providing more choice for customers seeking innovative vehicles that meet the stringent functional safety standards of ASIL-B.”