The “Autonomous Driving Domain Controller and Central Control Unit (CCU) Industry Report, 2024-2025″ has been added to Research And Markets.com’s offerings. This comprehensive report delves into the advancements, market trends, and industry impacts of autonomous driving domain controllers, particularly focusing on the shift toward One Board/One Chip solutions, which are poised to reshape the automotive supply chain.
Market Overview and Trends
Between January and September 2024, the Chinese automotive market saw the installation of 2.254 million sets of OEM intelligent driving domain controllers in passenger vehicles. The penetration rate of autonomous driving domain controllers has been climbing steadily, reaching 17.4% in September 2024, a significant increase from 8.61% during the same period in the previous year.
Leading automakers are heavily investing in autonomous driving domain controllers, with a clear trajectory towards Central Control Units (CCUs) for greater efficiency and integration. The report identifies three distinct stages in the development of these controllers:
Stage 1: Multi/One Box, Multi-Board, Multi-Chip
At this stage, each domain controller is equipped with a separate circuit board, and data is transmitted across different domains via Ethernet. This method aligns with the existing domain-centralized electronic and electrical architecture (EEA). While this system benefits from mature technology and cost-effectiveness, it is limited by Ethernet’s transmission rate, which generally falls between 100 Mb/s and 1000 Mb/s.
Stage 2: One Box, One Board, Multi-Chip
In this evolution, encoding and decoding processes between vehicle domains are eliminated, leading to reduced costs associated with chips, power supplies, heat dissipation, and wiring harnesses. Data transmission within the vehicle occurs via PCIe interfaces, with PCIe Gen 4 commonly used, offering speeds of 16 GT/s and a transfer rate of 1.97 Gb/s per lane. Multi-lane aggregation enhances the overall transfer rate, surpassing 10 Gb/s, significantly outperforming Ethernet-based systems.
At this stage, body domain and gateway functionalities are integrated, featuring central gateway chips such as the NXP S32G, SemiDrive G9H, and Renesas RH850.
Stage 3: One Box, One Chip
The final stage sees the emergence of domain controller SoCs with multiple IP cores interconnected via inter-chip communication. High-performance electric vehicles will increasingly feature NVIDIA’s DRIVE Thor, a next-generation autonomous vehicle processor based on the Blackwell architecture, tailored for Transformer models, Large Language Models (LLMs), and generative AI applications. DRIVE Thor utilizes NVLink 5 interconnect technology, enabling chip memory bandwidths exceeding 100 Gb/s.
While the Multi-Board solution has become standard, leading automakers such as NIO and Xpeng have advanced to Stage 2, where One Board solutions have been mass-produced and implemented. Some manufacturers may leapfrog directly to Stage 3, where the One Chip solution is expected to debut in 2025. However, chassis and power domains are unlikely to integrate into this architecture due to supplier restrictions.
AI foundation models are a focal point for OEMs, and the One Chip solution’s high-bandwidth capabilities enable software to share data and computing resources efficiently. This supports end-to-end foundation models and LLM-based applications. Additionally, One Chip designs facilitate the use of Chiplet architectures, which are expected to be a key trend in automotive chip development over the next decade.
Industry Deployment of One Board and One Chip Solutions
ECARX’s Approach to One Board and One Chip
ECARX prioritizes domestic production-ready chip strategies, utilizing a ‘One Board, Dual Chip’ architecture with a 7nm automotive-grade chip (Longying No.1) and the intelligent driving SoC (Huashan A1000). These chips are interconnected via PCIe, supporting a modular cross-domain software platform called ‘Cloudpeak,’ which enhances interconnectivity and interoperability across functional domains.
Desay SV’s One Chip Developments
- IPU14: Unveiled in October 2024, this high-performance domain controller integrates NVIDIA’s Thor-U chip, enabling cockpit-driving integration and supporting L3 conditional and L4 autonomous driving capabilities.
- ICPS01E: A next-generation intelligent computing platform designed for optimized performance in autonomous driving applications.
Z-One’s One Board Product – ZXD2
ZXD2 integrates intelligent driving, cockpit, and computing functions into a single platform. This innovation reduces weight by 40%, volume by 30%, and improves computing efficiency, storage capacity, and data bandwidth while significantly shortening OTA update times.
Mass Production and Adoption by OEMs
- Xpeng’s XCCP: This system combines C-DCU and XPU, integrating intelligent driving, cockpit, cluster, gateway, and power amplifier functions. It cuts costs by 40% while enhancing performance by 50%.
- NIO’s ADAM: This high-integration platform includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cockpit chip and four NVIDIA Orin X intelligent driving chips, reducing system size by 40% and weight by 20%.
The Impact of One Chip Solutions on Automotive Supply Chains
The transition to One Chip solutions represents the ultimate form of cockpit-driving integration. Leading multi-domain fusion SoCs in this category include:
- NVIDIA Drive Thor
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride Flex SA8775 & SA8795
- Black Sesame ‘Wudang’ C1200
- Renesas R-Car X5
Key Topics Covered in the Report
1. Market Analysis of Autonomous Driving Domain Controllers and CCUs
- Forecasts for China’s autonomous driving system penetration rate
- Market size and pricing trends for autonomous driving domain controllers
2. Leading Autonomous Driving Domain Controller Solutions
- Comparison of ultra-high to low computing power domain controllers
- System solutions from Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs
3. Autonomous Driving Solutions by Chip Platform
- NVIDIA (Thor, ORIN-X/Y/N, Xavier)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride/Flex
- Mobileye (EyeQ6, EyeQ5)
- TI TDA4, Renesas R-Car, Ambarella CV
4. Domestic Chip Platform Solutions
- Horizon (J6, J5, J3, J2)
- SemiDrive (V9/X9)
- Black Sesame (A1000, C1000)
- Huawei Ascend
5. Leading Chinese Autonomous Driving Domain Controller Vendors
- ECARX, Desay SV, Huawei, DJI Automotive, Neusoft Reach, Freetech, iMotion, Lenovo Vehicle Computing, Z-ONE Tech, and more
6. Global Autonomous Driving Domain Controller Vendors
- Tesla, Bosch, Continental, ZF, Aptiv, Magna, Valeo
7. Autonomous Driving Domain Controller EMS Companies
- Key EMS models and prominent suppliers in the industry
The autonomous driving domain controller industry is undergoing a transformative shift, with One Board and One Chip solutions leading the way. These advancements will reshape the supply chain, optimize efficiency, and drive the next generation of intelligent vehicles.
