2023Q2 cockpit domain control and chips: smart cockpit classification, L1 increased by 105% year-on-year, L2 increased by 171% year-on-year

On May 17, 2023, the "White Paper on Grading and Comprehensive Evaluation of Automotive Intelligent Cockpits" compiled by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China and industry professionals was officially released. The white paper divides smart cockpits into five levels from L0 to L4.

Source: China-SAE

Referring to the automobile intelligent cockpit classification issued by the China Society of Automotive Engineers, Zosi Automotive Research combined the cockpit function list of mainstream models in the market to implement the intelligent cockpit classification into specific functional parameters, and divided the intelligent cockpit into 4 levels, with specific classification and function list. as follows:

Source: Zuosi Automobile Research Database

The "Smart Cockpit Domain Control and SoC Market Analysis Report for the Second Quarter of 2023" only studies models with L1 or above smart cockpit functions (including L1, L2, L3, and L4) and equipped with cockpit domain controllers .

According to Zos Automotive Research's monitoring, from 2021Q1 to 2023Q2, the overall assembly volume of China's passenger car smart cockpit domain control showed an upward trend. The assembly volume in 2023Q1 was 964,800 units, a year-on-year increase of 96.7%, and the penetration rate reached 23.7%; the assembly volume in 2023Q2 was 132.57 million units, a year-on-year increase of 119.7%, and the penetration rate reached 25.6%.

Installation volume and penetration rate of smart cockpit domain controllers for new passenger cars in China from 2021Q1 to 2023Q2 (unit: 10,000 units, %)

Source: Zuosi Automobile Research Database

Currently, the hardware architectures of cockpit domain controllers and smart driving domain controllers are very similar, and both are SoC+ MCU solutions. The core of the cockpit domain controller is the cockpit SoC, which is currently mainly single- chip multi-system. In 2023Q2, single SoC accounted for 92.6%, dominated by Qualcomm and AMD; dual SoC accounted for 7.4%, dominated by Qualcomm 8155.

Judging from the sales of models of different smart cockpit levels, in 2023Q2, the sales volume of L1 smart cockpit models with cockpit domain control was 950,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 104.7%, of which joint venture car companies and independent brand car companies each accounted for more than 40%; Sales of L2 smart cockpit models with cockpit domain control were 357,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 170.5%, of which independent brand car companies accounted for 61% and new power brands accounted for 32.4%; sales of L3 smart cockpit models with cockpit domain control were 18,000 Vehicles, new power brands accounted for 98.8%.

Source: Zuosi Automobile Research Database

Not only do different types of OEMs have huge differences in their layout of smart cockpit levels, but the choices of cockpit domain control chips for models in different price ranges also vary greatly.

When it comes to smart cockpit chips, ordinary people will feel that the main chip of most models with smart cockpits is Qualcomm SA8155P. In fact, according to Zuosi Auto Research statistics, among the sales of models in the price range of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, Qualcomm SA8155P accounts for the highest proportion, but only 38%. In the smart cockpit domain control main chip market with price ranges of 200,000-300,000 yuan and 300,000-500,000 yuan, Qualcomm SA8155P accounts for 21.9% and 31.2% respectively.

Due to the huge development potential of smart cockpits and the high degree of differentiation in market segments, market opportunities have also been brought to latecomers of smart cockpit chips and domain control.

This report uses a detailed database to conduct an in-depth analysis of the smart cockpit domain control and main chip market segments, and also demonstrates industry development trends through expert interviews. For smart cockpit domain control and SoC practitioners and participants, you can understand the industry competition landscape and find your own positioning from the report.