Smart cockpit technology becomes a key factor for users to buy cars

Smart cockpit As a space scene for human-machine co-driving, multi-screen interaction, multi-mode interaction, high-speed computing, cross-domain communication , and software and hardware OTA upgrades have become the focus of technological innovation for vehicle manufacturers, parts, technology companies, and ecological enterprises. In order to further understand the development trend of the smart cockpit industry, Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute has conducted insight analysis on the development of smart electric vehicles , the market and technology development progress of smart cockpits, and the introduction of key companies. The core points of this report are as follows:

01. Overview of the development of smart electric vehicles

• Cockpit classification: According to the classification standards of the "White Paper on Automotive Intelligent Cockpit Classification and Comprehensive Evaluation", the intelligent cockpit can be divided into five levels: L0-functional cockpit, L1-perception cockpit, L2-partial cognitive cockpit, L3-high-level cognitive cockpit, and L4-full cognitive cockpit from the three dimensions of human-computer interaction , networked services, and scenario application and expansion. At present, China is in the development stage of L2-partial cognitive cockpit.

• Smart electric Car market Prospects: In the medium and long term, considering the increasingly stringent emission regulations and carbon emission control, the continuous improvement of electric vehicle technology, the increasing user acceptance of electric vehicles, the continuous improvement of charging and energy replenishment facilities, and the steady growth of new energy vehicles going overseas, it is expected that the sales volume of domestic new energy passenger vehicles will exceed 22 million by 2030, and the market penetration rate is expected to exceed 75%. At the same time, benefiting from the huge market development space, the automotive ecosystem has welcomed tens of thousands of companies to enter the market.

• Smart cockpit value: More than 60% of users have demand for smart cockpits and are willing to pay for related cockpit functions. The value of a smart cockpit per vehicle has become 3-5 times that of a traditional cockpit.

02. Smart Cockpit Market and Technology Development Progress

• Overall cockpit market: From the perspective of the core product configuration rate of the cockpit system, the penetration rates of central control screens, voice interaction, and car networking will exceed 80% by August 2024, and the penetration rate of central control screens will exceed 90%. At the same time, the penetration rate and year-on-year growth of cockpit domain control, HUD, and DMS are very obvious. In the cockpit industry chain , except for the cockpit domain controller , which mainly relies on foreign capital for high-end chips , the domestic supply of cockpit domain controllers, central control screens, LCD instruments, HUD, DMS and other fields is relatively mature.

• Display screen Market and technology trends: By August 2024, the proportion of central control screens larger than 15 inches will increase to 17%, and the share of LCD screens larger than 8 inches will reach 68%, with prominent large-screen and multi-screen features. Performance, design and interactive experience have become the core of display technology selection and large-scale development, and Mini LED/AMOLED display technology has begun to be gradually mass-produced. In addition, HUD has penetrated into models below 200,000 yuan, and the share of AR-HUD has increased significantly. Many domestic manufacturers have deployed optical waveguide HUD technology, and electronic rearview mirrors have gradually entered the mass consumer market due to the relaxation of regulations. It is estimated that the scale of the in-vehicle display market will reach 120.8 billion yuan in 2025, and HUD and electronic rearview mirrors will contribute the main incremental market

• Interactive technology development trends: Multimodal interaction methods such as hearing, touch, vision, and biometrics will be the mainstream of development, with a focus on active, emotional, and personalized development. In-vehicle acoustic systems, 3D HMI design, outdoor projection, and car light interaction have become not only key functional configurations in the cockpit, but also key technologies for creating an immersive cockpit experience.

• Cockpit domain controller market and technology trends: By August 2024 , the cockpit domain controllers of PATEO, Huayang General, Bosch and other enterprises have grown significantly, while the cockpit domain controller chip market share of local manufacturers such as Core Engine Technology, Huawei , and CoreDrive Technology has achieved rapid growth. Cabin-parking integrated platform products have gradually begun to be mass-produced, and there are more and more technical solutions based on CoreDrive X9 series products from independent tiers; currently, domestic representative manufacturers such as Desay SV, NavInfo, PATEO, and Junlian Zhixing have launched cabin-driver fusion technology solutions, which are expected to start mass production and delivery in 2025-2026.

• Cockpit industry trends: Creating a closed ecological loop of people-car-life is the next generation of smart car product development, based on AI big model, empowering and driving the development of multi-modal interaction and emotional interaction in the cockpit, while data-driven cockpit functions promote more diversified profit models for OEMs

03. Introduction of key enterprises

• PATEO Internet of Vehicles: The company provides integrated hardware, software , cloud services and operations capabilities, focuses on high-performance computing units to develop intelligent car central computing clusters, and provides diversified innovative platforms and product solutions around cockpit, intelligent driving and Internet of Vehicles ecosystem, including the Qingzhi central computing platform, intelligent cockpit global intelligent control, global Internet of Vehicles cloud control platform solutions and domain control product lean production, etc.

• CoreDrive Technology: Provides automotive-grade chips covering the fields of smart cockpit and smart vehicle control , including X9 Cockpit Core, G9 Network Core, E3 Control Core and other series of products. Among them, the X9 Cockpit Core product matrix fully covers 3D instrumentation, IVI, cockpit domain control, cabin-parking integration, cabin-driving-parking integration, central computing platform and other applications. The products maintain hardware Pin to Pin compatibility and software compatibility, fully meeting the entire vehicle cockpit application scenarios from entry-level to flagship level

According to user data surveys, more than 62% of users believe that smart cockpit function configuration can greatly increase their interest in buying a car, and more than 61% of users are interested and willing to pay for models equipped with smart cockpit functions at a reasonable price. Smart cockpit function configuration has become a key factor in car purchases for users. At the same time, due to the addition of cockpit domain controllers, incremental hardware (such as HUD, DMS, electronic rearview mirrors, etc.) and incremental software (such as SDK , middleware , etc.), the overall value of smart cockpit products per vehicle has become 3-5 times that of traditional cockpit products.

According to the Smart Cockpit Configuration Database of Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute , the penetration rate of central control screens, voice interaction and car networking functions in terminal sales of new passenger cars in the first eight months of 2024 exceeded 80%, tending to be standard configurations; the penetration rate of full LCD instruments and OTA function configurations also exceeded 70%, maintaining a rapid development trend. In addition, with the centralized development of smart cockpit domains and the expansion of emerging hardware applications, cockpit domain controllers, HUDs and DMS are also developing rapidly.

In the Chinese market, except for high-end cockpit domain control chips, the domestic supply chain of core cockpit products is relatively mature, especially HUD, DMS, cockpit domain controllers, etc. that have emerged in recent years, and domestic players have a high market share. For example, in the field of cockpit domain controllers, the growth of companies such as Botai Internet of Vehicles, Huayang General, and Bosch was very obvious before August 2024. In terms of central control screens and LCD instruments, Chinese independent brands or companies under car companies occupy a large share. Driven by policy guidance and technological iteration, domestic independent chip brands such as Core Engine Technology and Core Chip Technology have emerged in the field of medium- computing cockpit chips. In addition, emerging fields such as HUD, electronic rearview mirrors and DMS have also spawned many new companies.

With the development of smart electric vehicles and the rise of local brands, domestic manufacturers such as Huayang General, Botai Car Network and Bosch have shown significant growth. In terms of cockpit domain control SoC chips In terms of local manufacturers such as CoreEngine Technology, Huawei, and CoreDrive Technology, their market share has achieved rapid growth.

From the latest developments, there are two main trends in the development of cockpit domain control: First, the integrated cabin and parking platform products are gradually being mass-produced on vehicles, such as the Dragon Eagle No. 1 of Core Engine Technology, which has been mass-produced in the Galaxy E5 to realize screen display and parking functions. Huayang General, Desay SV, Zongmu Technology and other companies have also gradually started to mass-produce or cooperate with multiple companies based on the CoreDrive X9 series of cockpit products.