Author丨Cui Liwen
Responsible editor丨Cui Liwen
Editor丨Chic
What the outcome of the tiger's mouth can only be left to time to give the answer.
In March, the early spring in Wuhan was not as warm as expected, and even brought people a chill.
For some reason, like this year's Chinese car market, it seems to be thriving, but it is actually full of crises and challenges.
Especially after three years of the pain of the epidemic, the consumption vitality of the entire market has not been restored, but the tide of electrification transformation is rushing like a tsunami, and with the blessing of multiple factors, the trend of "the strong strengthen themselves, the weak hide" has become more and more prominent.
"Give up those unrealistic fantasies and try all kinds of ways to survive" has gradually become the most profound subtext that haunts all involved involved.
Whether you admit it or not, all you can do is be forced to accept it.
As for spending a certain amount of space to elaborate on the fundamental purpose of these contents, it is still to better introduce the protagonist of today's article - ECARCOM.
As everyone knows, just last Friday, located in the Wuhan Sports Center, its first Science and Technology Ecology Day slowly kicked off.
After participating in the whole scene, the biggest experience that arose in my heart was first of all deeply felt its imminent ambition.
Moreover, to a large extent, it has eliminated many prejudices that have been accumulated for a long time.
01
ECARCOM's ambitions
In fact, whenever ECARCOM is mentioned, the name that cannot be avoided must be the entire "Geely Group".
Although past experience tells us that "it is better to take advantage of the tree with our backs", we can look at the opposite side of the coin, and the corresponding external pressure and public opinion supervision that need to be withstood are also multiplying.
The resulting outcome, if you do not work hard enough or do less than expected, will be criticized by the face.
For a long time, due to various reasons, ECARCOM has been in such a situation.
Fortunately, with its successful acquisition of Meizu and IPO in the United States last year, the plot of the story gradually ushered in a new turn, and "taking the initiative to step out of the shade" has become what ECARCOM is eager to do.
After briefly explaining the background, I will once again return my attention to the first Science and Technology Ecology Day.
In summary, ECARCOM released a total of four "products", namely the intelligent cockpit computing platform Antola 1000, the Antora 1000 Pro, the global cockpit platform Makalu and the central computing brain Super Brain.
In terms of specific splitting, Antora uses the Dragon Eagle No. 1 chip, has a 7nm process, adopts a multi-core heterogeneous computing power cluster, adopts an 8-core CPU, a 14-core GPU and a programmable NPU, which can provide 100K DMIPS computing power and 900G FLOPS graphics rendering capabilities.
Moreover, Dragon Eagle 1 also adopts an independent hardware safety island design to achieve full-link functional safety of hardware and reduce development time and cost.
This product is also the first to be equipped with LPDDR5, which increases data transmission speed by 50% and data transmission bandwidth by 50%, while reducing power consumption by 10%, supporting high specifications of 6400MHz and up to 16GB.
In order to make the hardware play a better role, ECARCOM also released the Cloudpeak cloud mountain software system, which can better play the advantages of hardware.
In contrast, the Antola 1000 Pro uses two Dragon Eagle No. 1 chips, which can provide double the CPU, GPU, DSP computing power support, and the NPU computing power reaches 16TOPS, which can meet the needs of scenarios such as high computing power perception and pre- and post-processing.
More importantly, compared to the Antora 1000, the Antora 1000 Pro is an integrated berth product, which can provide driving assistance functions from L0 to L2, including safety alarm, comfort assistance and safety control.
In addition, it also supports the development of complete full-scene parking functions, providing APA assisted parking, RPA remote parking, etc.
And need to know that Antolla 1000 and Antora 1000 Pro are not so-called "futures", according to the news disclosed at the press conference, the former has been determined to "externalize" FAW Hongqi.
In contrast, the global cockpit platform Makalu adopts AMD Ryzen embedded V2000 automotive-grade processor at the hardware level, with 7nm advanced process, APU with 6 cores and 12 threads, GPU with 28 computing units and 1792 stream processors.
At the same time, Makalu has the powerful performance of 394K DMIPS and 10.1T FLOPS graphics rendering capabilities, supports up to 32GB of independent memory, provides 8GB of independent video memory, and has a unique Cloudpeak Virtualization capability base.
The computing power utilization rate of this product exceeds the industry-wide ratio of 11.7%, and the virtualization performance loss is reduced by 67% compared with the industry average, which can give full play to the ultra-high energy efficiency of heterogeneous computing platforms and provide a software and hardware capability base for the next generation of intelligent cockpit products.
Regarding Makalu, ECARCOM prefers to call it, "the most powerful computing platform in the history of the intelligent cockpit." ”
In the demonstration session, you can even play the 3A game masterpiece "Tomb Raider" directly in the car. After further understanding, it was learned that the Makalu will be installed on Smart's new pure electric model in 2024.
As for the central computing brain Super Brain, it integrates the Dragon Eagle One and Black Sesame A1000 chips, which can reduce the wiring harness of the whole car by 5%.
At the same time, R&D costs were reduced by 15% and vehicle BOM costs were reduced by 20%. The biggest highlight is to support the integration of cabin driving, support the mainstream intelligent driving solutions in the market, and meet the needs of different models.
Finally, as the Technology Ecology Day draws to a close, ECARCOM announced an exclusive strategic cooperation with Xingji Meizu Group to jointly create the Flyme Auto intelligent cockpit solution. The Antora 1000 Pro and Flyme Auto are confirmed to start on the upcoming Lynk & Co 08.
Writing here, I want to say: "As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the ambition of billionaires is clearly there. ”
However, behind the plump ideal, it is often the skinny feeling of reality.
As a sober bystander, I have to admit that Qualcomm is the only one in the field of intelligent cockpits.
Regardless of customer resources or market share, there are almost no competitors. It is precisely because of this that it is not easy for ECARCOM to grab food.
Fortunately, the capacity and demand of China's and even the global car market are still broad enough, and the latter seems to be fully prepared, so it should give it a go and grab meat in the jungle full of thorns.
02
Shen Ziyu's realism
"Today, we are taking a step forward to fully innovate by launching a variety of automotive intelligent solutions that integrate global advanced technology, have differentiation and uniqueness, and work with more OEMs and industrial first-tier suppliers around the world to continuously contribute new forces to the development of global automotive intelligence with our empowerment sincerity and innovation capabilities."
To be fair, looking back at ECARCOM's first Technology Ecology Day, in addition to the four "products" released, it is impressive and impressive nothing more than the personal performance of its chairman and CEO Shen Ziyu.
The whole release did not feel too much panic and nervousness, but was speaking directly for a long time.
Because of this, he instantly became interested in his way of doing things, cognitive views and true character.
Coincidentally, early the morning after the event, I had the honor to have a small interview with Shen Ziyu in the conference room of the InterContinental Wuhan Hotel.
After two hours of communication, as the subtitle of this paragraph suggests, "realism" has become the new label he wants to give him.
Of course, this is not a derogatory term here.
"I work almost 20 hours a day, and in six years I have almost 20 assistants."
Open Baidu Encyclopedia, look at the role played by Shen Ziyu so far, in addition to serving as the chairman and CEO of ECARCOM, he also includes: chairman of Xinqing Technology, vice chairman of Xingji Times, chairman of Meizu Technology, chairman and CEO of Jika Intelligence, chairman and CEO of Xingji Meizu Group, and chairman of Shanghai Platinum Technology.
Even the "famous brand" in front of him at the interview site is difficult to cover all the above positions.
Therefore, when asked how to effectively distribute limited energy, Shen Ziyu gave his answer.
And added: "I will only take care of the technical and strategic aspects of each company, and leave the rest to more professional managers." ”
Indeed, focusing on what you are good at should be the qualities that a "helmsman" must have. Shen Ziyu's slightly "perverted" work rhythm also reflects its high energy density from the side.
In the interview, he also maintained his eloquent nature and talked about many sections.
For example, for the entire automotive industry, for the process of intelligence and electrification, for many popular friends, including those "enemies".
In contrast, it is more worth sharing, in Shen Ziyu's eyes, what does ECARCOM want to do? What exactly should be done?
"Several intelligent cockpit products released on our Technology Ecology Day are standardized things, and those customized and customized needs should be handed over to automakers." Because only in this way can it be sold to more customers, ECARCOM can expand its scale and profitability more efficiently and rapidly. After all, no one does unprofitable business in the world. ”
As soon as these words came out, in my heart, the hat of "realism" was firmly attached to his head.
Next, Shen Ziyu also said that ECARCOM will unswervingly go to overseas markets, even if the competition and uncertainty encountered will double, Qualcomm and Samsung are inescapable opponents. And before that, it is necessary to open the situation in the domestic market.
In other words, while ensuring the internal supply of the entire "Geely Group", while winning external customers like FAW Hongqi, ECARCOM needs to continuously guarantee the output.
Otherwise, those familiar doubts and criticisms will strike again.
Finally, Shen Ziyu talked about Meizu, which the outside world is very concerned about, and said that the biggest significance of the merger and acquisition is to make up for some sectors that ECARCOM was not good at at the beginning, and open up the "bridge bridge" between smart phones and smart cars, and the two sides formed a good complement.
In short, with the end of the entire interview, in addition to "realism", you can actually feel a little "direct, strong, absolute, pure", and even a little "idealism" from his words and deeds.
At the end of the article, I want to throw out the last question worthy of long-term discussion and openness: What position do you think ECARCOM can climb to under the leadership of such a "helm"? What kind of periodic report card can be handed over?
As for my personal answer: "Don't worry, leave it to time to give feedback." ”
Because the path ECARCOM chooses to take is destined to be full of various variables and is destined to need to be eaten. But if it can get through, it will be a different situation...
Cui Liwen
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