360° panoramic surround view has entered a new development cycle.
On the one hand, 360° panoramic surround view technology has begun to be fully upgraded, such as its hardware - camera began to improve from the early standard definition (300,000 pixels), high definition (1 million pixels) to ultra-high definition (2 million pixels and above), and the display is also upgrading from traditional 2D to 3D and transparent chassis.
On the other hand, 360 panoramic surround view began to provide blind spot monitoring and early warning, lane departure warning and other ADAS early warning functions, while 360 ° panoramic surround view and ultrasonic sensors, short-range radar, etc. integration, so as to achieve different levels of automatic parking function has also become the mainstream choice in the market.
Under such a background, the 360° panoramic surround view has greatly improved the demand for real-time image acquisition, real-time encoding, image clarity, AI computing power, video output capability, etc., and the traditional low-computing chip solution has been unable to meet the demand.
Recently, Rockchip released an intelligent vehicle 360° surround view solution based on the RK3588M chip, which can double the 360° surround view performance due to the advantages of integrating the self-developed 6 TOPS computing power NPU and powerful CPU/GPU capabilities, thereby enhancing the value of the consumer experience.
The continuous upgrading and iteration of intelligent networked vehicles is inseparable from the support of the computing platform. It is undeniable that with the iteration and upgrading of the chip solution and the camera pixels, the technical upgrade of 360° panoramic surround view is also accelerating.
First, help the 360 ° panoramic surround view of the technology upgrade
As a technology that relies on cameras to provide parking assistance, blind spot monitoring and other functions, the panoramic surround view function has gradually penetrated from high-end models more than a decade ago to low-end models. However, according to the data of the Gaogong Intelligent Automobile Research Institute, the overall load-bearing rate of panoramic surround view is not high, and the future market space is still very large.
From January to December 2021, the number of new vehicles in the domestic market with panoramic surround view insurance was 4.5892 million units, an increase of 52.3% year-on-year, and the occupancy rate was 22.5%. It is estimated that by 2025, the front-loading and insurance loading rate of domestic new vehicles (joint ventures + independent brands) AVM will exceed 40%.
As a result, some of the front-facing ADAS suppliers and traditional Tier1 giants began to lay out a 360° panoramic view of the market. For example, Continental has previously announced the launch of a multi-camera system based on four cameras + central control unit, which can not only achieve a 360° panoramic field of view, but also provide functions such as identifying road signs and traffic lights.
The relevant person in charge of Rockchip said that the 360° panoramic surround view is being upgraded from the original 2D to 3D. Image information is collected by four fisheye cameras installed in front of and behind the body, and after fine splicing seams, they are spliced into a whole 3D surface mesh model, and then according to the selected imaging angle, distortion processing and color balance are performed, and finally a 360 ° bird's-eye panoramic picture is formed, which is clearly and smoothly displayed on the central control screen.
Through the central control screen, the driver can intuitively see the location of the vehicle, the surrounding pedestrians, obstacles, etc., to achieve calm control of the vehicle driving through the complex road or parking into the warehouse, effectively reducing the occurrence of accidents such as rubbing and collision.
The technical upgrade of 360° panoramic surround view also puts forward higher requirements for the computing power and data processing capacity of the chip platform.
It is understood that the RK3588M 360 ° panoramic surround view scheme released by Rockchip has the following characteristics:
1) With strong NPU computing power: integrated self-developed 6TOPS computing power NPU, super AI computing power blessing.
2) Seamless splicing of large wide-angle camera: Support the splicing of 4-channel, 6-channel and 8-way cameras to meet various application scenarios.
3) Adopt seamless stitching method to present better results.
4) The perspective chassis is safer: help prompt to avoid manhole covers, potholes, rough roads, driving safer.
5) Factory support for more peace of mind: provide calibration tool software, accurate parameter calibration. Original factory algorithm to make full use of chip performance.
It is worth noting that the RK3588M 360° surround view solution released by Rockchip has added a 360 ° surround view algorithm, which can be connected with an 8K resolution image sensor, and through the capture of the high-resolution image sensor and the intelligent visual algorithm, the external environment of the car can be presented in real time in the on-board screen, thereby improving the perception of the surrounding environment by the driver.
Second, aim at the next generation of electrical and electronic architecture
At present, OEMs including Volkswagen, Great Wall, BYD and other OEMs are preparing for the next generation of domain centralized electronic and electrical architecture, and large computing chips have become an important selling point for new models of major car companies.
The industry agrees that with the gradual development of ADAS and autonomous driving, smart car chips not only need greater computing power, but also need to have image processing capabilities and neural network computing capabilities.
It is understood that a single RK3588M chip can support ADAS/DMS/BSD/APA multi-camera assisted driving, and can drive multiple screens at the same time.
For example, Rockchip's "one-core multi-screen" intelligent cockpit solution launched by Rockchip with RK3588M as the core adopts a RK3588M to drive multiple screens such as in-vehicle infotainment system, LCD dashboard, electronic rearview mirror, rear headrest screen, etc., forming a reliable intelligent network system and bringing users a high-tech interactive experience.