AMD has introduced a line of products geared towards expanding the AI capabilities of vehicles. The first product, XA Versal AI Edge, is a series of single-chip platforms equipped with AI engines and an array of vector processors. They are primarily intended to enhance the safety and efficiency of LiDAR sensors, radars, cameras, and other AI-based sensors. AMD also unveiled the Ryzen Embedded V2000A processor series, designed to enhance the capabilities of automotive multimedia systems.
Notably, both the AMD XA Versal AI Edge SoC series and the Ryzen Embedded V2000A processors are the auto industry’s first 7nm certified chips.
These new additions aim to enhance both the driver and passenger experience by supporting various AI capabilities across different automotive systems.
The XA Versal AI Edge is an adaptive platform designed to support artificial intelligence and manage various car sensors. It improves the accuracy and responsiveness of automotive LiDAR sensors, radars, and cameras, critically important elements for AI systems making rapid and precise decisions.
The flagship SoC XAVE2602, a part of the XA Versal AI Edge platform, boasts its scalability. It features 152 AI engines with 820,000 logic cells and 984 Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). AMD claims for this chip a performance of up to 89 TOPS (trillion operations per second) in INT8 calculations. AMD can also offer XA Versal AI Edge platforms with performance metrics ranging from 5 to 171 TOPS for different segments and tasks.
The XA Versal AI Edge is based on an APU with a pair of Arm Cortex-A72 cores and a dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F RPT module. This chips’ power consumption varies from 6–9 W (XAVE2002 platform) to a considerable 75 W (XAVE2802 platform).
The Ryzen Embedded V2000A processor series is designed to expand the AI capabilities of automotive multimedia systems for both drivers and passengers. These processors can be used to manage the digital interior of cars, from the infotainment console to passenger displays.
Built on the 7nm process, these processors use Zen 2 architecture cores and replace the first-generation Zen architecture fours-core and eight-thread APU Ryzen Embedded V1000. The Ryzen Embedded V2000A offers up to six Zen 2 cores with up to 12 virtual threads and comes with integrated Radeon Vega 7 graphics with seven compute units. According to AMD, the new processors are up to 88% more efficient than their predecessors.
Ryzen Embedded V2000A chips support up to four 4K displays, operation of two gigabit network interfaces, and meet AEC-Q100 standards, which demand high reliability and quality. AMD promises a 10-year lifespan for these processors.
Many AMD partners, including Tesla, Ecarx, Luxoft, BlackBerry/QNX, Xylon, Cognata, and others, are already showing interest in the new XA Versal AI Edge and Ryzen Embedded V2000A platforms. According to AMD, the first SoC XAVE1752 under the XA Versal AI Edge series will be available in early 2024. The rest of the chips in the series will be released later in the year. AMD has also prepared an AXVEK 280 evaluation kit for potential clients to assess the new SoC’s capabilities.
