Arm's Zena Platform Promises to Revolutionize Automotive AI Development

Arm says new Zena platform can cut car development time by 50%

The big picture: While people have been discussing the automotive market as the next big tech-device opportunity for some time now, in reality, today's cars haven't advanced as much as many had hoped. Sure, we have larger, more sophisticated screens and some assisted driving features, but we've yet to reach the kind of transformative, smartphone-level impact in most of the vehicles we're buying or driving today. A significant part of the issue lies in the long and tedious automotive development process, particularly in how technology is adopted into modern vehicle platforms. Traditionally, automakers would wait for chip designs to be completed, then integrate individual elements into broader car platforms. Only after that could they begin writing software tailored to those finalized hardware designs. Last year, Arm took a major step toward shortening the typical 3- to 4-year development cycles by introducing two key innovations. First, it unveiled a full suite of automotive-grade processors and other chip IP (intellectual property) for use in vehicle platforms. Second, it launched new cloud-based simulation and virtualization platforms in collaboration with major Electronic Design Automation (EDA) providers - Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens - as well as Amazon's AWS. These tools allow automakers and their partners to begin software development even before Arm-based chips are finalized. The result: up to two years saved in the software development process, significantly accelerating the delivery of advanced vehicle capabilities. (It will be interesting to see how recent export restrictions on EDA software to China may impact these developments for Chinese automakers.) This year, Arm completed the next phase by integrating its individual automotive cores into more comprehensive system designs that streamline both hardware and software development. In fact, the new offerings enable those stages to happen simultaneously, potentially cutting another 12 months from the typical development timeline. Under its new Zena brand - focused on Arm-powered automotive silicon designs - the company introduced a vehicular implementation of its Compute Subsystem (CSS) strategy. As with previous markets where Arm rolled out CSS, including datacenters, PCs, and smartphones, the goal is to integrate multiple components around Arm's latest CPU, GPU, and other cores to reduce the complexity, cost, and time involved in designing complete systems. With Zena, CSS supports a variety of SoC or "chiplet" configurations, combining CPUs, GPUs, image signal processors (ISPs), security cores, I/O components, inter-chip connectivity, and more. Specifically, the new Zena design includes support for a 16-core v9 Cortex-A720AE CPU, chip-to-chip coherence via the CMN S3AE, a real-time safety island using the Cortex-R82AE, and the ability to link multiple Zena designs via UCIe, among other features. The result is a range of complete starting points for hardware development and corresponding software. These systems offer extensive customization options for semiconductor and automotive manufacturers, with open interfaces to connect a variety of AI accelerators, image processors, graphics components, and more. Different configurations can support everything from enhanced user interaction and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems to assisted and autonomous driving features. Arm believes it can drive the creation of what they're calling an "AI-defined car," which builds on the current concept of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and brings more advanced AI processing into the experience In fact, Arm believes it can drive the creation of what they're calling an "AI-defined car," which builds on the current concept of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and brings more advanced AI processing into the experience. Given how rapidly AI has been integrated into other computing platforms, that seems a logical move - and the safety-focused capabilities Arm has integrated into the core Zena system will likely prove to be even more important here. On a practical level, Zena also brings increased design efficiency to carmakers. It offers savings not only in time but also in the resources required to develop new vehicle platforms. This efficiency enables automakers and Tier 1 suppliers to produce more vehicle platforms with fewer people and in less time. In fact, Arm estimates that Zena CSS platforms can reduce development costs and resource requirements by up to 20%. For car buyers like us, that translates directly into getting later generations of technology into new car designs instead of buying cars that typically had semiconductor capabilities that were typically 2-3 years behind smartphones and other digital devices. For carmakers, this speeds time to market and allows companies to reuse certain hardware and software efforts across multiple product lines - instead of having to create new chip system designs and software for each range of models. Given how critical - and brand-defining - the digital capabilities of cars have become, this makes these development advances extremely important. Strategically, this announcement is significant for Arm as it advances the company's move from supplying individual chip IP to delivering more comprehensive system designs. This vertical expansion not only allows Arm to charge more for its offerings but also strengthens the role of its platforms across all the markets it serves - including automotive. With shipments to the automotive sector increasing by more than 300% over the past five years and support for 94% of global automakers, Arm's direction clearly aligns with market demand, making this a win-win proposition. As important as CSS platforms have proven to be in other markets where Arm has introduced the concept, the automotive industry may stand to gain the most. The notoriously slow development times for car technology have been a challenge for many automakers and their major suppliers and the dramatic potential speed-up that Arm is bringing to them with Zena should prove to be a real difference maker. Bob O'Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on X @bobodtech

Arm's latest compute subsystem to accelerate automotive AI chip design by up to a year - SiliconANGLE

Arm's latest compute subsystem to accelerate automotive AI chip design by up to a year U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings Plc is looking to expand its stranglehold on the automotive chip industry with a new and integrated design platform that promises to increase the time it takes to bring specialist artificial intelligence chips to market by up to 12 months. The company said the new Arm Zena Compute Subsystems offering will help automakers and chipmakers to build smarter, software-defined AI-powered cars to market faster than ever, helping them eliminate the delays in new vehicle rollouts that result from setbacks in traditional silicon design. Dipti Vachani, Arm's senior vice president and general manager of its Automotive Line of Business, claims that Zena CSS will help automakers to launch new, intelligent vehicles "at least one year faster" than previously possible. It provides a standardized, pre-integrated compute platform that helps to reduce development cycles, enabling software teams to get to work on new AI features even before the silicon is available. The launch of Zena CSS is a big deal, because almost every top carmaker today, including the likes of Tesla Inc., Mercedes-Benz AG, Honda Motors Co. and Rivian Automotive Inc., uses Arm's technology as the foundation of their automotive chips. Arm-powered chips deliver almost all of the intelligent capabilities found in modern vehicles, such as advanced driver-assist systems and immersive infotainment platforms. With Zena CSS, developers will be able to accelerate the design of new in-car AI capabilities, the company said. According to Arm, Zena CSS will help to reduce chip engineering effort by around 20% per project, paving the way for more intelligent touch and voice interfaces, more immersive digital cockpit experiences and increased automation for drivers. Cars need access to highly customized and specialized chips to support these kinds of intelligent features, which is why the company says the pre-integrated and pre-validated Zena CSS platform is so exciting. It provides access to 16 Armv9-based Cortex-A720AE cores, with performance that's optimized for ADAS and immersive vehicle infotainment applications, with integrated safety monitoring, fault management, system control and system-on-chip boot controls. The new Runtime Security Engine is said to feature Hardware Root-of-Trust safety mechanisms that leverage Arm's TrustZone technology to manage security at the chip level. Other features include improved CPU coherency and chip-to-chip communication provided by CMN S3AE, and better-optimized image signal processing to support surround view and driver-monitoring systems. Mercedes Benz Chief Software Officer Magnus Östberg hailed the new platform, saying he's convinced it will help to accelerate development timelines while reducing complexity, not only for his company but for competitors too. "By integrating such solutions early in the development chain, the automotive industry can streamline complexity and establish a stronger foundation for delivering the safe, intelligent and connected experiences that define the next generation of vehicles," Östberg promised. One advantage of Zena CSS is that it will enable carmakers and chip providers to reuse the same architectures and software systems more easily in different vehicles, helping to simplify the development and integration of AI features while enhancing safety. Arm said this is critical, because until now vehicle makers have had to develop more customized chips for each type of vehicle they manufacture, which increases both development times and costs, and adds to the burden of validating and certifying new technologies. "Leading OEMs - including top EV manufacturers - and major silicon providers have already licensed Zena CSS or are in advanced stages of engagement," Vachani added. "We expect the majority of the industry to build on the Zena CSS family in the coming years." Vachani said Arm's partners can get started with Zena CSS immediately with cloud-based virtual platform support from companies, including Amazon Web Services Inc., Cadence Systems Inc, Siemens AG and Synopsys Inc.