Multiple tech firms, from Tesla to Mobileye, an Israel-based unit of Intel Corp, have begun researching and developing such technologies. Even Japanese car maker Toyota is making a pioneering foray into the semiconductor industry, forming a joint venture with automotive components manufacturer Denso to produce autonomous driving chips.
One of the iconic moments of 2004 sci-fi film, I, Robot, is Will Smith’s character taking manual control of his driverless car to escape from murderous robots. Fourteen years on, the advent of new technologies such as 5G has brought us one step closer to producing driverless cars. To handle the increased computing power required by such cars, faster and stronger technological components must be developed.
A key component of a self-driving car is autonomous driving chips, which allow a vehicle to process its external environment and make informed decisions more effectively. “Vehicles with higher levels of automation tend to need more sensors, better chips, and better software, as a more automated vehicle must be able to drive safely in a wide range of situations and at a variety of speeds and types of traffic,” observes a report by David Coffin, Sarah Oliver, and John VerWey from the US International Trade Commission.
