Synopsys and SiMa.ai today announced a strategic collaboration to deliver an innovative solution designed to help automotive companies accelerate the development of workload-specific chips and software for next-generation vehicles. The solution combines Synopsys' leading electronic design automation tools, automotive-grade IP and hardware-assisted verification solutions with SiMa.ai advanced machine learning accelerator (MLA) IP and a complete machine learning software stack development environment to provide maximum customization support for IP, subsystems, SoCs and SoCs.
Autonomous driving and in-car entertainment: AI applications drive innovation in the automotive industry
In modern vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems are becoming the core competencies of automakers. With the introduction of generative AI technology, multimodal real-time experiences in automobiles have gradually become the focus of market demand. However, current automotive software-defined architectures (SDVs) struggle to meet these demands, especially for the computing power, performance, and reliability required for diverse applications. To remain competitive in this new environment, automakers need software architectures that are AI-processed, workload-proven, and energy-efficient. In addition, hardware and software co-design solutions – from silicon to system – are key to reducing development costs and ensuring time-to-volume.
The transformation brought by the solution: collaborative innovation to help accelerate the development of intelligent vehicles
Synopsys is a trusted partner to the global automotive industry, with more than 50 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers using its virtual prototyping technology across more than 1,000 virtual models ranging from SoC IP to board-level ICs and ASICs. SiMa.ai is focused on developing high-performance, low-power embedded edge machine learning system-on-chip (MLSoC) solutions with a highly flexible technology stack that supports multiple models, sensors, and applications and automatically optimizes them for optimal performance.
This integrated approach will support the automotive industry with innovation in the following areas:
1. Early Architecture Exploration: Provides guidance to automotive design engineers to optimize performance, power, and software application requirements during custom or third-party SoC development.
2. Moving the software development process forward: The solution is optimized for multimodal capabilities and GenAI, and provides a complete end-to-end workflow, including virtual prototyping and simulation, to help accelerate software-hardware integration to reduce time to market.
3. Cost-effective and differentiated in-vehicle experience: Silicon-proven building blocks and subsystems that provide full customization for high-performance automotive ML SoCs and silicon modules, combined with SiMa.ai-leading, easy-to-use machine learning software and tools.
4. Continuous upgrade capabilities for automotive edge AI solutions: Develop and test over-the-air (OTA) capabilities for automotive applications through virtual prototypes to ensure that AI capabilities are fit for current and future needs.
figure：Synopsys partner with SiMa.ai（image：communications today）
Join forces to jointly promote innovation in the automotive industry
"This collaboration with SiMa.ai will provide a tremendous step forward for automotive companies to modernize their hardware-software co-design processes to address the increasingly complex and costly demands for automotive intelligent experiences," said Ravi Subramanian, head of product management and marketing at Synopsys. Our leadership in architecture exploration, IP and hardware-assisted verification will be combined with SiMa.ai's ability to innovate in performance and power optimization to help customers differentiate themselves while meeting stringent cost controls and industry standards.”
Krishna Rangasayee, founder and CEO of SiMa.ai, also said, "Our close collaboration with Synopsys enables us to provide automakers with a complete, optimized solution that accelerates their development cycles. SiMa.ai's MLSoC platform is designed to achieve the best performance and lowest power consumption for a wide range of applications, which is the key to the continuous evolution of future smart cars in terms of safety and intelligence. "When this platform is combined with Synopsys' industry-leading IP and software, we will provide global automotive OEMs with a strong foundation for innovation to drive breakthroughs in autonomous driving and in-vehicle experiences."
Looking to the future: the cornerstone of cooperation in the new era of smart cars
With the continuous development of autonomous driving and intelligent in-vehicle systems, the demand for high-performance computing and AI solutions in the automotive industry is increasing rapidly. Synopsys' collaboration with SiMa.ai not only provides automakers with more efficient and flexible solutions, but also enables innovation across the industry. With the continuous evolution of AI and machine learning technologies, the future car will no longer be just a means of transportation, but will also become an intelligent and interconnected mobile terminal, providing users with a richer and safer driving experience.
