German industrial giant Bosch will work with US chip developer Tenstorrent to develop a platform to standardize automotive chip components, Tenstorrent executives said.
The plans include developing a standard method for using the building blocks of modern chips, called chiplets, to create systems that can power vehicles with significantly different needs, David Bennett, Tenstorrent’s chief customer, said in an interview.
By combining different quantities and types of chips into complete processors, the two companies aim to reduce costs and increase the speed of introduction of new silicon products into the automotive industry.
“(Bosch) is working with us to fundamentally redefine the way automakers look at silicon — buying silicon and making silicon,” Bennett said.
Accelerated by the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs), cars are increasingly becoming products that resemble large battery-powered computer systems on four wheels.
The technical complexity of introducing electrification and automated driving systems has forced vehicle manufacturers to look for new ways to make or buy the necessary chips.
Chip giants such as Nvidia, Qualcomm and Intel-owned Mobileye produce a range of driver assistance chips and associated software.
The idea behind the collaboration with Bosch is that standardizing the technical requirements around the chiplet’s building blocks could lower prices, Bennett said.
Manufacturing a large quantity of a standard chiplet that could be added or removed as needed for each application would save money. It would also allow automakers more customization options for each design, compared to buying off-the-shelf parts, said Tenstorrent’s vice president of automotive Thaddeus Fortenberry.
The collaboration does not yet include any specific products or sales to car manufacturers.
Tenstorrent is run by Jim Keller, who led Tesla’s efforts to design a chip for autonomous driving. Keller has designed chips for AMD and Apple, among others.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)