Tier IV and imec collaborate on chiplet AI accelerators for autonomous driving

Tier IV has joined imec’s Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP), a pre-competitive industry initiative focused on developing chiplet-based semiconductor architectures for automotive applications. The Japanese autonomous driving software firm says the partnership will support its strategy of delivering scalable autonomous driving solutions across multiple vehicle platforms and use cases.

Chiplet technology enables semiconductors to be built by combining discrete chips with specific functions, allowing software applications to run across different silicon platforms without dependency on a single hardware vendor. Tier IV says it has already completed development of a LiDAR accelerator for high-speed 3D point-cloud processing, and is now focusing its ACP research on AI accelerators for neural network-based autonomous driving workloads covering perception and planning functions.

The firm’s participation in the ACP is intended to align its open-source Autoware platform with chiplet standards being defined across the automotive ecosystem, ensuring compatibility with a range of system-on-chip architectures and sensors.

“Joining imec’s ACP allows us to harmonise open-source software with silicon based on open standards,” Shinpei Kato, Founder and Chief Executive of Tier IV, said. “Regardless of the underlying computing architecture, our goal is to ensure that Autoware and our AI-based models deliver peak performance through optimised chiplet designs.”

Bart Placke, Vice President, Automotive, imec, added: “With Tier IV on board, we can combine our semiconductor and system integration expertise with their leading capabilities in autonomous driving software and reference platforms.”

Source: Tier IV