With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, intelligent driving technology has become a hot spot for major car companies. Recently, it was reported that the intelligent driving chips developed by NIO and Xpeng, the leading companies in the field of new energy vehicles in China, have entered the tape-out stage.
As a leader in China's new energy vehicle industry, NIO has been committed to the research and development and innovation of intelligent driving technology. Recently, NIO officially released its self-developed intelligent driving chip, Shenji NX9031. The chip uses an advanced 5nm process and integrates more than 50 billion transistors, demonstrating extremely high levels of integration and performance.
According to NIO, the Shenji NX9031 chip has excellent performance in computing power, and its self-developed NPU can efficiently run various AI algorithms, and the overall performance is directly at the industry's flagship level. NIO said that the goal of the chip is to use a self-developed chip to achieve the performance of the current four flagship intelligent driving chips in the industry, which will greatly improve the intelligent driving capability of the vehicle.
At present, the Shenji NX9031 chip has entered the tape-out stage, and it is expected to be officially put into production and applied to NIO's models in the near future. NIO plans to install this chip on its flagship sedan ET9 for the first time in the first quarter of 2025, bringing consumers a smarter and safer driving experience.
Figure: Wei's self-developed chip Shenji NX9031 (Source: Fast Technology)
Unlike NIO, Xpeng Motors has chosen to cooperate with external partners in the research and development of intelligent driving chips. It is reported that Xpeng Motors' self-developed intelligent driving chip has been sent to Japan's Soxi company (Socionext) for tape-out service, and is expected to return to the film in August this year.
As the world's leading SoC supplier, Suosi has rich experience and strong technical strength in chip design services. Xpeng's choice to cooperate with Suoxi is undoubtedly to accelerate the research and development process of its intelligent driving chips and ensure product quality.
Xpeng Motors' intelligent driving chip team is huge, with about two or three hundred people, showing the company's attention and investment in this field. Despite this, industry executives still believe that it is a prudent choice for car manufacturers to develop their own intelligent driving chips in cars. Xpeng also said that strict testing and verification will be carried out before the chip is put on the car to ensure its stability and reliability.
In addition to NIO and Xpeng, other car companies in China's new energy vehicle industry are also actively following the pace of self-developed intelligent driving chips. Li Auto's intelligent driving chip project is codenamed "Schumacher", and it is expected to complete the tape-out work within this year. The active participation and investment of these car companies will further promote the independent research and development and innovative development of China's intelligent driving technology.
