SAIC to launch models with Horizon Robotics' Journey 5 chip
SAIC, China's largest automaker, entered into a strategic partnership with local self-driving chipmaker Horizon Robotics on July 18 to build smart driving computing platforms based on the latter's AI chips.
SAIC's software arm SAIC Z-ONE will build a smart driving platform using two Journey 5 chips, which will be used in SAIC's models to be mass-produced in 2023, according to a press release from Horizon Robotics on Monday.
The Journey 5 chip is Horizon Robotics' third-generation automotive chip for high-level autonomous driving, combining high performance and large computing power, the chipmaker said.
A single Journey 5 chip has up to 128 TOPS of AI computing power and is equipped with Horizon Robotics' latest generation BPU Bayesian deep learning acceleration engine, it said.
The Journey 6 chip, built on the new BPU Nash architecture, is being developed to achieve a multi-fold increase in AI computing power and will meet the future demand for higher-level computing for full-vehicle intelligence centers, Horizon Robotics said.
SAIC Z-ONE will also build a smart driving platform based on the Journey 6 chip, which will be used in SAIC's models due for mass production in 2025.
Horizon Robotics, founded in 2015, launched the Journey 2 chip in 2019, the first automotive-grade AI chip in China. Its Journey 3 chip is already being used in the 2021 Li ONE model.
On July 29, 2021, Horizon Robotics launched the Journey 5 chip, with plans to launch the Journey 5P in 2022 and the Journey 6 chip in 2023.
By the end of 2021, Horizon Robotics' cumulative shipments of its Journey family of chips exceeded 1 million, according to data previously announced by the company.
Horizon Robotics and SAIC began a strategic partnership in 2017, with SAIC participating in its Series B funding round in 2019 as the top institutional shareholder. 2020 saw the formation of a joint lab between the two companies.
Late last month, Horizon Robotics announced that it had closed a strategic investment from FAW Group, without disclosing the amount of the investment.
The investments will be used to strengthen Horizon Robotics' forward-looking technology development for AI chips and to advance the use of its technology, according to the company.
On May 12, XEV Lab, a WeChat account focused on the smart car industry, citing unnamed suppliers, reported that NIO was in the process of selecting software and hardware technology for its mass-market sub-brand of models and was evaluating Horizon Robotics' Journey 5 chip.
If things go well, the chip could be in mass production on NIO's sub-brand models in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the report.
See also
Horizon Robotics receivs investment from Chinese automaker FAW
Hongqi to equip new models with Horizon Robotics’ Journey 5 chip
BYD to use Horizon auto-grade chips to power autonomous driving
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