Mobileye, STMicroelectronics partner to develop 5th-generation System-on-Chip

NEW DELHI: Mobileye and STMicroelectronics have announced that the two companies are co-developing the next (5th) generation of Mobileye’s SoC, the EyeQ5, to act as the central computer performing sensor fusion for Fully Autonomous Driving (FAD) vehicles starting in 2020.

Mobileye N V develops of computer vision and machine learning, data analysis, localization and mapping for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and autonomous driving. The company’s proprietary software algorithms and EyeQ chips perform detailed interpretations of the visual field in order to anticipate possible collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, debris and other obstacles.

To meet power consumption and performance targets, the EyeQ5 will be designed in advanced 10nm or below FinFET technology node and will feature eight multithreaded CPU cores coupled with eighteen cores of Mobileye's next-generation, innovative, and well-proven vision processors.

Taken together, these enhancements will increase performance 8x times over the current 4thgeneration EyeQ4. The EyeQ5 will produce more than 12Tera operations per second, while keeping power consumption below 5W, to maintain passive cooling at extraordinary performance. Engineering samples of EyeQ5 are expected to be available by first half of 2018.

The EyeQ5 continues Mobileye’s long-standing cooperation with STMicroelectronics. Leveraging its substantial experience in automotive-grade designs, ST will support state-of-the-art physical implementation, specific memory and high-speed interfaces, and system-in-package design to ensure the EyeQ5 meets the full qualification process aligned with the highest automotive standards. STwill also contribute to the overall safety- and security-related architecture of the product.

“EyeQ5 is designed to serve as the central processor for future fully-autonomous driving for both the sheer computing density, which can handle around 20 high-resolution sensors and for increased functional safety,” said Prof Amnon Shashua, cofounder, CTO and Chairman of Mobileye."The EyeQ5 continues the legacy Mobileye began in 2004 with EyeQ1,in which we leveraged our deep understanding of computer vision processing to develop highly optimized architectures to support extremely intensive computations at power levels below 5W to allow passive cooling in an automotive environment.”

“Each generation of the EyeQ technology has proven its value to drivers and ST has proven its value to Mobileye as a manufacturing, design, and R&D partner since beginning our cooperation on the EyeQ1,” said Marco Monti, Executive Vice President and General Manager Automotive and Discrete Group, STMicroelectronics. “With our joint commitment to the 5th-generation of the industry’s leading Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technology, ST will continue to provide a safer, more convenient smart driving experience.”

Engineering samples of EyeQ5 are expected to be available by first half of 2018. First development hardware with the full suite of applications and SDK are expected by the second half of 2018.