Favorable winds are blowing for MediaTek. After becoming the leader in the phone chipset sector, overthrowing a Qualcomm that seemed unbeatable, the Chinese manufacturer signed an important alliance with NVIDIA last weekend to define its lines of work for the automotive industry. Take care of the chip and leave the rest to NVIDIA to create more complete infotainment interfaces. This is the plan for the short and medium term.
An important alliance. Within the framework of COMPUTEX, one of the largest fairs related to information technology and held in Taipei, Taiwan, the CEO of NVIDIA has announced this partnership with MediaTek. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO, said, “Our collaborative vision is to provide a global one-stop-shop for the automotive industry, designing the next generation of always-connected, intelligent vehicles.”
In other words, the objective of the alliance is to promote the development of the NVIDIA platform to provide vehicles with complex infotainment systems, using MediaTek chips to move their graphic interfaces.
One hardware working together. MediaTek will develop automotive SoCs, integrating GPUs designed by the American manufacturer. MediaTek CPU, NVIDIA graphics. The ambition is clear, they want to offer the most advanced cockpit experience on the market, and they will do so with NVIDIA’s own software platform.
NVIDIA and its commitment to the vehicle: NVIDIA has been developing in-vehicle software solutions for some time. NVIDIA Drive is their data platform for the development of autonomous vehicles, Drive Hyperion is their software development kit and sensors for connected vehicles, and they also have their own SDK to develop all the necessary software on their own.
Associations with the best: the association with MediaTek is not the first that NVIDIA has made with a view to conquering the automotive world. Already in June 2020, they allied with Mercedes Benz to jointly develop the German manufacturer what they defined as “the most advanced vehicle software in the world”. It was a cloud platform that will allow both levels 2 and 3 of autonomous driving, as well as OTA updates and integration with connected car functions: parking, traffic light detection, active safety measures, etc. Its arrival is expected in 2024.
MediaTek is going the same way: If NVIDIA wants to lead the software in connected vehicles, MediaTek wants exactly the same at the hardware level. The same throne that it conquered with its Dimensity on Android wants to conquer it in vehicles, with its MediaTek Dimensity Auto solutions.
MediaTek’s approach is based on booth experience (they want booths with WiFi 7, 5G, full GNSS coverage, direct integration with operators, etc.), as well as equipping physical ADAS systems with AI processing capabilities.
Renault Megane E-TECH
Screens, screens, screens: CPU, GPU, software integrations. Beyond improvements in vehicle safety systems and future improvements in autonomous driving, the main purpose of these alliances has to do with the usual: screens. Infotainment systems will advance thanks to both the integration of software inside the windshield (HUD) and the deployment of (increasingly larger) screens.
Apple is already considering integrating Carplay in vehicles with virtual cockpits, and vehicles that arrive with Android Automotive, such as the new electric Renault Megane, follow the same path.
Image | Xataka with Mindjourney
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