The 2023 China International Smart Industry Expo was held at the Chongqing International Expo Center from September 4th to 6th, 2023. Focusing on the theme of "Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicles", the expo innovatively held a series of activities including an opening ceremony and summit, exhibitions, forums, competitions and product releases.

By virtue of its strong independent chip R&D capabilities and implementation achievements in the intelligent driving track, Axera was invited to the expo, where it exhibited a series of self-developed automotive chips, development kits and solutions, and set up a "Dark Box Lab" for the audience to experience the magic of Axera's Black Light Camera up close.

Two High-Grade Automotive Chips Debuted Together

At this expo, Axera highlighted the M55 and M76 series chips. Among them, the M55H has achieved mass production for front-loading in passenger cars, boasting high security, excellent performance and low power consumption. The M55H chip has obtained the AEC-Q100 Grade 2 automotive certification and supports the system to meet the functional safety level requirements of ASIL B, helping customers develop more stable and reliable products. In addition, the M55H can achieve a fast cold start function through systematic optimization, and optimize image quality to the extreme with a built-in AI-ISP while supporting codec functions. Meanwhile, the M55H chip has also achieved ultimate optimization in power consumption, leading the industry in this aspect.

The M76 series chips realize a single-chip parking and driving integrated domain controller solution by providing a high-performance NPU, which can replace the existing multi-chip solutions on the market, support customers' rapid verification and development, and create value for them. Test data shows that the NPU of the M76H delivers outstanding performance, efficiently supporting BEV/Transformer models and enabling passive heat dissipation. For L2+ and above intelligent driving scenarios, Axera will also launch higher-level intelligent driving chips one after another.

A Series of Development Kits and Solutions to Safeguard Intelligent Driving

At the expo, Axera exhibited a series of reference solutions and corresponding development kits. Among them, the parking and driving integrated domain controller development kit is equipped with rich board-level resources to support customers' development and verification, featuring up to 11-channel camera access and expansion interfaces for mainstream safety MCU, IMU and ultrasonic radar. In addition, Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP ensures real-time high-definition image quality, enhancing safety in various driving scenarios such as tunnels and dark areas; its mature and efficient NPU toolchain supports mainstream BEV/Transformer operators, and PTQ high-precision quantization simplifies development for quick start-up.

The mainstream CNN operators of the front-view integrated machine development kit are supported by a mature and efficient NPU toolchain, whose PTQ high-precision quantization simplifies development with ease and convenience. Image quality is guaranteed by Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP, applicable to various typical driving scenarios such as tunnel entrances and dark areas. Its perception reference algorithms include 3D vehicles/pedestrians, general obstacles, lane lines/curbs, traffic signs and drivable areas, covering a wide range of application scenarios with diverse options. Axera also showcased a solution based on this kit - the front-view integrated machine - at the expo. This solution is suitable for the vehicle-level L2 ADAS application scenarios, adopting the high-performance Axera M55H chip and a flexible combination scheme of embedded multi-core CPU and multi-core neural network processor, supporting various functions such as ACC, AEB, LKA, ISA, TSR, LDW, TJA, SAS, FCW and LCC.

The AI computing power of the CMS development kit supports rich intelligent algorithm expansion, including dirt detection and BSD. The user-friendly SDK supports CMS functions such as field of view expansion, automatic scaling and layer superposition, with a dual-channel ultra-low latency of less than 60ms. Empowered by Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP, it supports various typical scenarios such as high light suppression, dark field full color and purple fringing removal.

Axera Dark Box Lab

The "Dark Box Lab" flexibly reproduces the actual effect of Axera's "Black Light Lab", demonstrating Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP's excellent color restoration capability for shot objects under extremely low brightness on site. Viewers can compare the images in real time through the display on the dark box and experience the outstanding image quality presented by Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP technology in low-light environments.

Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP combines deep learning algorithms with traditional ISP processing units, acting as the "eyes" of universal intelligence to perceive more information, especially meeting the rigid demand for black light full color. It features six technical highlights: Black Light Full Color, AI HDR Imaging, AI Multi-spectral Fusion, AI Anti-shake, AI Scene Enhancement and AI Multi-sensor Fusion. It can comprehensively improve image quality and achieve better visual effects in various driving scenarios such as dark roads, tunnel exits and bumpy sections.

Founded in 2019, Axera has been committed to building leading intelligent chips and has achieved large-scale shipments in smart cities, AIoT and other fields. Entering the new stage from "1 to N", Axera actively embraces the wave of automotive intelligence and firmly chooses the intelligent vehicle track. Relying on its outstanding advantages in performance, cost control, power consumption control and image processing, Axera provides customers with high-performance, low-power edge and end-side artificial intelligence chips, as well as more differentiated and cost-effective intelligent driving solutions by virtue of its industry-leading self-developed technologies - Axera Smart Vision AI-ISP and Axera Smart Compute mixed-precision NPU. In the future, Axera will continue to work hand in hand with relevant partners in the industrial chain to build an open and inclusive cooperation ecosystem, boosting the efficient and high-quality development of the intelligent driving industry.