Ambarella Expands Autonomous Driving AI Domain Controller Family With Two New SoCs

January 10, 2024

News

The new CV3-AD635 and CV3-AD655 SoCs are fabricated in Samsung’s advanced 5nm automotive process technology. TheCV3-AD635 is designed to support a sensing suite that includes multiple cameras and radars to enable mainstream L2+ feature sets, such as highway autopilot and automated parking, in addition to meeting the GSR2 and NCAP standards. The CV3-AD655 is designed to enable advanced L2+ (also called L2++) with urban autopilot, and support for additional cameras, radars, and other sensors.

With the previously announced flagship CV3-AD685 SoC, which targets L3/L4 systems—along with the China-focused CV72AQ SoC—the CV3-AD family now covers the full range of AD and ADAS solutions, from mainstream to premium passenger vehicles. Per the company, this solution offers a wide range software-compatible AI domain control family, spanning an 18x AI performance increase from the CV72AQ to the CV3-AD685.

All SoCs in the CV3-AD family feature Ambarella’s CVflow 3.0 AI accelerator. This proprietary AI engine combines neural network acceleration—including support for the latest NN architectures such as transformers and bird’s-eye-view (BEV) networks—along with general vector processing capabilities for computer vision and radar processing.

The CVflow’s AI processing performance and power efficiency enable CV3-AD customers to design vehicles with feature sets based on AD and ADAS capabilities, while reducing thermal-management cost and complexity. The low power consumption also allows customers to deploy electric vehicles with small batteries, reducing cost and weight; or to alternatively increase the EV range using the same battery.

“The strategic partnership between Continental and Ambarella is bringing full-stack vehicle system solutions to the road—beginning with 2027 SOPs—that combine maximum performance and industry-leading energy efficiency,” said Ismail Dagli, Head of the Autonomous Mobility Business Area at Continental. “Based on Ambarella’s CV3-AD family, our joint solutions enable safer mobility thanks to holistic environmental perception; making them particularly well suited for the growing amount of sensor data in software-defined vehicles. Together, we are shaping the path toward Vision Zero and autonomous mobility.”

Ambarella’s CV3-AD SoC portfolio meets the processing requirements for automotive OEMs’ catalogs, from mainstream to premium models, by scaling the performance of each members’ compute engines. According to the company, the CV3-AD655 offers double, and CV3-AD685 six times, the NN processing performance of the CV3-AD635. The CV3-AD635 integrates four Arm Cortex A78AE CPU cores, and the CV3-AD655 eight cores. A dual-core, lockstep pair of Cortex-R52 CPUs is also included in both the CV3-AD635 and CV3-AD655. These SoCs target ASIL-B at the chip level, via an ASIL-D safety island. Also integrated on-chip is a GPU to render 3D surround views.

Portability across the CV3-AD family is achieved by sharing the same architectural approach, SDK, and tools. Ambarella’s full software stack for autonomous and semi-autonomous driving is optimized for all CV3-AD family members, as the stack and SoCs were designed in conjunction.The CV3-AD family’s on-chip image signal processor provides imaging in low-light conditions, including high-dynamic-range processing to extract maximum image detail in high-contrast scenes. All CV3-AD family members also provide high-resolution video recording and streaming at low bit rates with H.264 video encoding.

The integrated hardware security module provides isolation of different domains and secure software provisioning, and a suite of cybersecurity features, including: asymmetric/symmetric crypto acceleration, secure storage and key provisioning, encrypted CVflow AI acceleration tasks, true random number generator, one-time programmable memory, DRAM scrambling, and DRAM virtualization.

CV3-AD635 and CV3-AD655 engineering samples are expected to be available in Q1 2024. At Ambarella’s invitation-only exhibition during CES in Las Vegas this week, the company will provide fully autonomous test drives in its R&D vehicles to demonstrate the CV3-AD family’s capabilities

For more information, please visit www.ambarella.com.