The demand for autonomous driving chips has skyrocketed, but automotive-grade chips are still in short supply

The development of automobile intelligence is very rapid, and various regions have begun to introduce relevant regulations on autonomous driving. Major car companies have begun to try to pay attention to chip research and development, thus bringing opportunities for the development of autonomous driving technology and a surge in demand for automotive-grade chips.

At present, most electric vehicles on the market have a certain level of autonomous driving function. However, the autonomous driving level of most cars is still at the L1-L2 level, which belongs to the assisted driving stage, and it is difficult to achieve true L3-L4 high-level driving. Autonomous driving travel services have entered the commercial pilot stage, and are getting closer and closer to the end of large-scale commercialization of L3-L4 autonomous driving.

In the past, due to the difficulty in developing and testing autonomous driving software and algorithms, as well as the imperfect relevant policies and regulations, the overall market maturity of autonomous driving was not high. In the era of vehicle intelligent transformation, the smart cockpit can integrate more information and functions, giving users a more intuitive and personalized experience, thus becoming a pioneer in vehicle intelligence. Since 2020, various countries have successively introduced policies related to autonomous driving or high-level autonomous driving operating licenses.

At present, L3 and above autonomous driving is expected to be first applied in closed, semi-closed and low-speed scenarios. Autonomous parking, as a low-speed and complex scenario of autonomous driving, will provide low-speed domain data training and accumulation for the evolution of autonomous driving technology. Although there is still some distance to go before the commercialization of high-speed scenes of autonomous driving, manufacturers such as Tesla, Google, Nvidia, and Qualcomm still focus on high-level autonomous driving in order to gain an advantage before the industry inflection point comes.

Previously, as the "disaster" in the chip industry spread, things gradually got out of control. Due to the continuous shutdown of upstream factories, the chip shortage is no longer limited to the consumer electronics field, and even many automotive-grade chips have been affected by the chip shortage. On the surface, as manufacturers resume production and chip supply returns to stability, the chip shortage is expected to be resolved in the short term. But in Xiaolei's view, the chip shortage will never fade away like this. Comparing the market response of memory chips with automotive and video memory chips, it is not difficult to find that the core contradiction of the chip shortage is not the shutdown of factories, but the serious mismatch between supply and demand in the semiconductor market, and the chips needed by customers and the backlog of semiconductor manufacturers do not match. As we all know, although advanced process chips are difficult to develop and mass produce, they have high gross profit margins and huge demand potential, and have always been the focus of research and development of semiconductor companies. Among them, wafer foundry manufacturers led by TSMC, Samsung, and UMC are the most active.

In addition to the existing smartphone SoC giants and Tesla and BYD, which are taking the consumer replacement route, more smart cockpit chip companies are catching up. Generally speaking, these companies can be divided into two categories: new forces in smart cockpit chips and companies that have turned to the automotive field from consumer SoC.

Among the new forces in the smart cockpit, Jiefa Technology, CoreEngine Technology and CoreDrive Technology are currently showing a strong momentum of development. Jiefa Technology is a subsidiary of NavInfo that focuses on automotive electronics. Its smart cockpit chip AC8015 has achieved pre-installed mass production in March 2021, and its share in the domestic entry-level smart cockpit chip market continues to grow. As of the end of 2021, the cumulative shipments have exceeded 200,000 pieces.

As a local chip company jointly established by Geely's Ecarx and ARM China, CoreEngine Technology inherited the foundation of Ecarx's E-series smart cockpit chips and launched the first automotive-grade nano smart cockpit chip SE1000 (Dragon Eagle No. 1) in 2021, which will be used in Geely's new models. The biggest pain point is that automotive chips are not powerful enough. If you want to make a good car, you must have a good chip. Most car chips cannot reach the performance of mobile phones. How to shorten the gap between mobile phones and car chips as much as possible has become the biggest rigid demand at present.

Nowadays, cars are no longer just a simple means of transportation, and the requirements for in-car entertainment functions are getting higher and higher. However, due to the fact that the requirements for automotive standards are much higher than those for mobile phones, it is difficult for the single combat power of in-car software and hardware to compete with mobile phones. Projecting the mobile phone screen to the car computer, or even putting the mobile phone on a bracket, has become the choice of many car companies and consumers. A senior expert in the hardware field once lamented to Caijing Auto (ID: caijingqiche) that it is a shame for car people to let consumers use mobile phones (as an interactive tool, not the car computer) when getting in the car.

"Behind all terminals, especially intelligent terminals, there must be computing and software. To make the software good, the hardware must be coordinated well, that is, the chip." The development of my country's automotive-grade chips has also ushered in opportunities.