"ECARX's role is equivalent to Huawei's car BU, Xingji Times and Meizu Technology are equivalent to Huawei's consumer BG, and SiEngine Technology is equivalent to HiSilicon Semiconductor. On March 20, at ECARX's second Technology Ecosystem Day, CEO Shen Ziyu explained ECARX's new positioning.
In his speech, he said that ECARX very much recognizes the idea of a friendly company (i.e., Huawei) to be an incremental component company for smart electric vehicles, and ECARX is also working towards this goal. In his speech, Shen Ziyu dismantled ECARX's business and compared it with Huawei's car BU business segment. At the press conference, ECARX unveiled a number of new technologies and brands, including intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving.
Intelligent cockpit: Released three major platforms and opened up the research and development of mobile vehicles
In terms of intelligent cockpit, ECARX has developed the SA8255P Atlas computing platform based on the fourth-generation Snapdragon ® cockpit SoC and the Parker computing platform developed SA8295P to release the Atlas computing platform and Parker computing platform. In addition, three major products such as the Qiaogori computing platform were also released.
AMONG THEM, THE ATLAS COMPUTING PLATFORM IS BUILT ON THE QUALCOMM SNAPDRAGON 8255P, WHICH PROVIDES 230 KDMIPS OF CPU COMPUTING POWER, 1.3 TFLOPS OF GPU COMPUTING POWER, AND 24 TOPS OF NPU COMPUTING POWER ON A 5nm PROCESS. It supports LPDDR5 high-speed memory, with more than 2 times the capacity and 1 times more bandwidth than the 8155 chip. It can support the integrated use of cabin travel and berthing, and can expand the ADAS function of L2 level. The computing platform is expected to be installed in mid-range models.
Parker's computing platform, based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P, is also based on the 5nm process, but has higher graphics processing capabilities. IN TERMS OF COMPUTING POWER, THE CPU COMPUTING POWER IS ALSO 230 KDMIPS, THE GPU COMPUTING POWER REACHES 2900 GFLOPS, AND THE NPU COMPUTING POWER IS 46 TOPS. Thanks to its powerful graphics capabilities, it supports immersive 3D HMI with display throughput of up to 64 million pixels and high-resolution video decoding. In addition, it can support the deployment of more AI functions such as DMS, OMS, AI large models, automatic parking APA, RPA, HPA, and support for L2 ADAS. This is ECARX's solution for high-end models.
As a high-end new product, the Qiaogori computing platform is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8Gen3. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8Gen3 is also the most powerful mobile phone SOC at present, and its performance is more powerful than the current 8295P, which is the strongest in the automotive class. THANKS TO THE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF THE FLAGSHIP 4nm PROCESS, IT HAS 330 KDMIPS OF CPU POWER, 4.2 TFLOPS OF GPU POWER, AND 60 TOPS OF NPU POWER, WHICH CAN SUPPORT LARGE VISION MODELS AND GENERATIVE AI. The model for this platform will be announced in the near future.
According to the data, the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 adopts a 1+5+2 CPU architecture, with a super-large core frequency of up to 3.3GHz and support for LPDDR5X high-speed memory. In terms of GPU, thanks to its powerful performance, it can meet the needs of true 8K displays in the car, support hardware ray tracing technology, support for 240FPS high brushing, and support for Unreal Engine UE5 optimization. At the same time, the Chogoli computing platform can also deploy converged device-side AI and generative AI to comprehensively improve the performance of in-vehicle AI. In addition, the platform also supports WiFi 7 connection, bringing a more extreme in-vehicle interconnection experience.
The reason for this choice, Shen Ziyu explained, is because Qualcomm chips have two major advantages. First, it can support the global platform, and second, it can make up for its own lack of advanced manufacturing processes. Not only that, Shen Ziyu also said that for the first time in the industry, the Qiaogori computing platform has shortened the generational gap between automobiles and consumer electronics to 10 months. As a result, ECARX can spread the cost of mobile phone research and development to the car.
Comprehensive layout: chip + lidar + computing platform
In terms of intelligent driving, based on the Longying cockpit chip, ECARX has upgraded the Antola series intelligent cockpit platform to an integrated computing platform for cabin, travel and parking. Among them, the Antola 1000 computing platform realizes the cabin driving and parking function, reducing the cost of intelligent driving solutions, and the Antola 1000 Pro computing platform can undertake the mainstream cabin driving and parking integrated function and AI scenarios, reducing the investment in vehicle development.
ECARX also released the Sky Dome Pro intelligent driving computing platform. THE PLATFORM IS BUILT ON A 16nm PROCESS CHIP WITH 64 KDMIPS OF CPU COMPUTING POWER AND 116 TOPS OF NPU COMPUTING POWER. ECARX also demonstrated its intelligent driving capabilities at the scene, and the official video showed that the vehicle has all-round active safety, urban commuting NOA, intelligent parking and other features after using the computing platform. This platform has already been mass-produced on Geely's Lynk & Co 08, and is expected to be installed on the Lynk & Co 07 as well.
This is the announcement of software function upgrades, which can realize urban commuting NOA and high-end intelligent parking. According to ECARX's NOA plan to open the city, the feature will be fully rolled out soon, and the first wave will be launched in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shanghai and other provinces and cities. Sensors are also a very important part of intelligent driving. ECARX showcased its latest progress in LiDAR modules, bringing two products: Light Moment Long Range Semi-Solid-State LiDAR and Light Moment Short Range All-Solid-State LiDAR.
Among them, the Moment of Light long-range semi-solid-state LiDAR supports TCSPS detection technology, adopts optoelectronic computing integrated SPAD chip, and supports 192 line speeds. In the future, this lidar will be used with ECARX's self-developed intelligent driving products to realize high-end intelligent driving functions such as urban NOA. The Moment of Light short-range all-solid-state LiDAR uses Flash detection technology, a large-area array integrated SPAD with a resolution of up to 360X150 pixels, and a self-developed light source driver IC to customize VCSELs.
ECARX also said that the company has achieved comprehensive self-development capabilities in three aspects: SPAD arrays, VCSSEL arrays, and laser driver ICs. And Shen Ziyu also output an interesting point of view at the scene, he believes that "it is not complicated to make lidar, and I have the confidence to make the sensor bigger and stronger." It is believed that there will be no more lidar companies, millimeter-wave radar companies, etc., and there will only be intelligent incremental component companies. "I wonder how independent lidar manufacturers will feel when they see this statement.
As the brain of intelligent driving, the intelligent driving chip is also quite critical. At this press conference, ECARX also released a high-end intelligent driving chip, Longying One (AD1000), which was developed by SiEngine and is also the company's second chip.
It is reported that the computing power of AD1000 has reached 256TOPs, which is at the same level as the current mainstream Nvidia Orin. It can also be expanded, one can support L2++ (referring to urban NOA), two 512 TOPS can support L3, and four 1024 TOPS can support L4 autonomous driving. Through continuous integration, the previously released Longying No. 1 has the ability to realize the integrated solution of cabin driving and parking with a single chip, which can support 4-way high-definition screens, support in-cabin vision, support automatic parking assistance and extravehicular parking, and support L2 ADAS capabilities.
"We don't make any 16nm products, 7nm is the best choice for cars. Shen Ziyu emphasized. It is reported that there will be two chips, AD800 and S1000P, which were planned three years ago.
Expand beyond the Geely system
In addition, ECARX also announced more levels of ecosystem cooperation. The first is to cooperate with Microsoft in the field of AI, and build a cloud-based solution based on the Azure OpenAI large model and Azure intelligent cloud. Secondly, ECARX will cooperate with Lianyou Zhilian to jointly support the technological innovation of vehicle brands in terms of intelligent driving and intelligent cabin products. However, what is more notable is that it announced that it will jointly build a leading intelligent computing platform and Hongqi OS with China FAW. According to Shen Ziyu, the cooperation between ECARX and Hongqi is a joint research and development, which will provide Hongqi with an overall solution similar to the Lynk & Co 08, and may include various models of Besturn.
This also means that ECARX has made new progress in expanding its cooperation partners outside the Geely system. At present, ECARX claims to be an independent listed company, but its customers are mainly companies related to Geely. Among them, one is Geely Holdings' brands, including Geely, Volvo, Lotus, Proton, and Zeekr, and the other is Geely's shareholding companies, including Mercedes-Benz and smart. Shen Ziyu revealed that Geely and non-Geely systems account for about 70:30 of ECARX's revenue, but it will soon achieve 50:50 in the future. At present, in addition to FAW Hongqi, ECARX has also signed cooperation agreements with brands such as Changan Automobile, Changan Mazda and Dongfeng Citroen Automobile.
The expansion of new customers has also given ECARX the opportunity to turn around its losses. According to the financial report, ECARX's total revenue for the full year of 2023 will be 4.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31%, and its net loss will be 1.02 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 37%. Shen Ziyu pointed out that in 2024, ECARX will be able to maintain a revenue growth of more than 30%, while moving towards full profitability. In order to achieve profitability as soon as possible, ECARX actually gave up part of its business. For example, high-precision maps.
Shen Ziyu said that at first, ECARX thought that high-precision maps could be standardized, so they made a layout and won the qualification of high-precision map surveying and mapping. According to ECARX's previous plan, in 2021, it will complete the coverage of major cities in China, in 2023, the self-developed high-precision map will cover the whole country, and in 2026, it will achieve global blind-free communication and centimeter-level high-precision positioning coverage. But in reality, the business of high-precision maps is not easy to do, and the cost of data collection and maintenance is huge. "The more standardized things are sold, the better the better you can make money, and it will be very difficult to customize and customize. Shen Ziyu said.
However, despite having established a structure similar to Huawei's, ECARX still has a long way to go before it can reach the scale and size of Huawei's automotive business.