In recent years, automobiles have continued to develop in the direction of intelligence, networking, and electrification, and product positioning has gradually changed. For many users, a car is not just a travel tool, but a customized private space integrating leisure, entertainment, office and other functions.
In this context, the importance of automotive intelligent cockpit systems has become increasingly prominent.
According to the “Research White Paper on Smart Cockpit Market and Technology Development Trends” released by consulting agency IHS Markit, at this stage, the level of smart technology configuration in car cockpits has become the second most important factor affecting car purchasers’ choice of products. The importance exceeds power and comfort, and is second only to safety.
Moreover, because domestic consumers have a stronger dependence on mobile Internet and smartphones, domestic users often pay more attention to the performance of smart cockpits when purchasing a car.
It is for this reason that many domestic auto manufacturers attach great importance to the research and development of intelligent cockpit systems and spare parts. Some companies even announced that they would only enter the smart cockpit market and not manufacture complete vehicles.
The good news is that many domestic companies have achieved outstanding results in this field. For example, Geely released the first self-developed smart cockpit chip, SE1000.
According to Geely, the SE1000 is China’s first 7nm automotive-grade SoC chip, using 87-layer circuits and integrating 8.8 billion transistors. In terms of parameters, SE1000 is a veritable high-end processor.
It is not surprising that Geely can take the lead in achieving technological breakthroughs among many domestic auto brands. After all, Geely has always been one of the most R&D-focused companies among domestic automakers. According to the official information released on the Geely Longwan Technology Gathering, Geely will spend 150 billion RMB for technology research and development in the next five years. Looking at the research and development investment alone, Geely is expected to rank first.
Of course, Geely has invested heavily in research and development in order to gain more technological leadership. According to the plan, Geely will realize the commercialization of L4-level autonomous driving in 2025, and fully master the L5-level autonomous driving technology. If the Geely plan can be carried out as scheduled, then in the next five years, Geely is likely to grow into China’s No. 1 new energy vehicle company.
It is reported that the SE1000 smart cockpit chip will start mass production in 2022. In addition, Geely has a self-developed 5nm chip planned to be launched in 2024-2025.
In fact, looking at Geely’s layout on the smart car track, it can be found that Geely’s self-research on smart cockpit chips is not only to prevent the occurrence of chips being controlled by others, but also to create a better service system for users.
As a simple example, Geely will complete the networking of 72 IoT communication satellites and 168 navigation-enhanced low-orbit satellites in 2026. With Geely’s self-developed chips, Geely Auto will be able to achieve global communication without blind spots, and the positioning accuracy can also be accurate to centimeter level.
It is worth mentioning that Geely’s self-developed chips will not necessarily be exclusively owned by Geely Auto, because the company that developed the chip, Sinco Technology, has Geely’s investment, but Geely is not the largest shareholder.
In other words, this 7nm chip may eventually be applied to a variety of smart cars, helping domestic car manufacturers to get rid of their dependence on Qualcomm and MediaTek.
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