i.MX 95 is a powerful tool for building cost-effective, safe and reliable electronic cockpit solutions!

The rapid development of microelectronics and software technology is profoundly changing the design of in-vehicle entertainment control and safety systems, redefining the driving experience.

At the heart of this transformation is the eCockpit, a complex system in modern cars that integrates entertainment, connectivity and safety monitoring functions into a unified interface. The eCockpit controls everything, keeps the driver informed and connected, and improves vehicle safety through real-time monitoring and autonomous response.

At the heart of the eCockpit is the cockpit domain controller, which integrates multiple electronic control units (ECUs) into a unified system that seamlessly manages connectivity, displays and touchscreens, the digital instrument panel, the entertainment center console and driver assistance functions.

Learn about the NXP i.MX 95 applications processor family, a high-performance system-on-chip (SoC) platform that provides a highly integrated domain controller solution for today's eCockpit designs. Its heterogeneous multi-core architecture can control the host and digital instrument cluster, as well as the head-up display, significantly improving efficiency and reducing complexity. This integration simplifies the eCockpit architecture, reduces the cost of cables and connectors, and simplifies design complexity.

Three automotive trends driving eCockpit design

The automotive cockpit is evolving towards an advanced eCockpit, reflecting the shift from mechanical controls to digital displays that enhance the driving experience through customization, wireless communications, internet access and smartphone integration. Three key trends are reshaping eCockpit design:

1

Vehicle Electrification: As electric vehicles (EVs) become more affordable as supply chain issues ease and price competitiveness improves, cost-effective eCockpit designs will be critical to accelerating the transition from internal combustion engines to electric power.

2

Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV): Cars are moving towards software-upgradeable networks, supporting rapid feature updates and enhancements through over-the-air (OTA) technology, and gradually moving away from fixed hardware designs.

3

Advanced safety systems: Modern cars are equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as lane departure and adaptive cruise control as well as driver monitoring systems (DMS). The eCockpit must be designed to comply with the latest safety standards to ensure functional safety.

Choosing the right cockpit domain controller solution

As the automotive industry moves toward a future defined by affordable electric vehicles, SDV technology, and advanced safety systems, the need for cost-optimized eCockpit solutions is more pressing than ever.

The i.MX 95 application processor uses an integrated multi-core architecture and is equipped with 6 Arm Cortex-A55 cores with graphics, machine vision and video acceleration functions, providing excellent computing power scalability for eCockpit designs to meet this market demand. The processor's independent safety domain uses an Arm Cortex-M7 processor to provide a safe processing environment for applications to meet ISO26262 ASIL-B safety standard requirements without the need for a supporting MCU.

The i.MX 95 processor combines low power, real-time and high-performance processing capabilities in a flexible SoC, providing a powerful, scalable platform with all the essential technologies developers need to simplify eCockpit design. This integrated approach not only reduces system cost and simplifies the OTA software update process, but also achieves significant results in reducing weight and power consumption. This is especially important for electric vehicles.

NXP's i.MX95 applications processor

A highly integrated hypervisor software alternative

The hypervisor is a software layer that runs at the lowest level of the SoC to support guest operating systems. In a typical eCockpit design, the hypervisor allows multiple operating systems (such as Android OS for the host and Linux RTOS for the dashboard) to run in parallel on a single processor. Traditional hypervisor-based systems require this additional software layer to manage multiple operating systems, adding design cost and complexity as well as potential performance bottlenecks.

In contrast, the heterogeneous multi-core architecture of the i.MX 95 processor eliminates the need for hypervisor technology. It can execute safety-related functions such as dashboard displays and audio ringtones on a secure RTOS on the Cortex-M7 core, while the Cortex-A55 core is dedicated to running non-critical tasks on a rich operating system such as Android. By allowing different cores to run independent operating systems directly, developers can avoid the performance impact and additional cost and complexity brought by the hypervisor. The processor's Cortex-M7 core can also perform safety monitoring for other critical tasks such as DMS. At the same time, other cores can run the Android operating system to provide a rich, driver-friendly interface for the entertainment center control system without interfering with safety-critical functions.

Advanced machine vision and image processing

With the increasing popularity of features such as DMS, surround view and traffic sign recognition (TSR), machine vision has become a must-have feature of the eCockpit system. The eIQ Neutron neural processing unit (NPU) of the i.MX 95 processor can drive machine vision as part of a unified vision processing flow consisting of multiple camera sensors or networked smart cameras. NXP's embedded image signal processor (ISP) supports a variety of imaging sensors, including infrared devices for machine vision applications.

The graphics and multimedia capabilities of the i.MX 95 processor are particularly important for creating an immersive eCockpit experience. The integrated Arm Mali GPU enables developers to deliver rich, vivid 3D graphics that extend from the eCockpit digital instrument panel to the multi-display entertainment center console.

Safety by design

In terms of functional safety, the i.MX 95 processor covers all bases by enabling automotive designs that meet ISO26262 ASIL-B safety levels through its functional safety domains. The processor can support a variety of safety-critical functions such as sound alerts, instrument lights, and camera displays to meet the high reliability standards set by automakers.

The next eCockpit design for the future

As the automotive industry continues to grow and innovate, the i.MX 95 series stands out as a powerful, highly integrated processing solution that can reduce the cost and complexity of eCockpit designs.

As a one-stop supplier of automotive chip and software solutions, NXP also offers a comprehensive portfolio of power management ICs (PMIC), tuners, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless SoCs, CAN/Ethernet transceivers, SDV platforms and HMI design tools to simplify the development of feature-rich automotive entertainment control systems.

Jim Bridgwater is Senior Director of Global Product Marketing for the Automotive Edge Product Line at NXP Semiconductors, leading the product marketing team for NXP’s automotive cockpit and telematics applications. He has led the implementation of NXP’s digital network marketing initiatives for enterprise and home gateway applications, and prior to that he held various positions responsible for European marketing activities for automotive infotainment center console applications for over five years. During his 25 years at NXP, Jim has also been involved in marketing microprocessor, DSP and RF solutions for industrial control and consumer electronics applications. Previously, he worked as a systems engineer at Texas Instruments. Mr. Bridgwater received his Bachelor of Science in Electronics from the University of Manchester Institute of Technology in the United Kingdom. He has been involved in and obtained several patents for system bus architectures related to energy conservation, and has written several articles on security, infotainment center consoles, graphics processing, mobile TV and wireless communications.