Samsung’s new chips bring 5G, more features to cars

Samsung Electronics has announced three new automotive chip solutions to bring 5G connectivity and more features to automobiles, the Exynos Auto T5123, Exynos Auto V7, and the ASIL-B certified S2VPS01 power management IC (PMIC) for the Auto V series.

Starting with the Exynos Auto T5123, it’s the industry’s first 5G connectivity solution for automobiles. It brings both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) mode to the next generation of connected cars, capable of delivering up to 5.1 Gbps, to deliver essential information to the vehicle in real-time, as well as allow passengers to enjoy high-def content streaming or video calls on the go via the car’s infotainment system.

Speaking of infotainment, Samsung also introduced the Exynos Auto V7, a powerful processor for IVI Systems in mid to high-end vehicles. It is designed for in-vehicle infotainment systems and packs eight 1.5GHz Cortex-A76 CPU cores, 11 Arm Mali G76 GPU cores, an NPU to allow services such as virtual assistance that can process visual and audio data for face, speech, or gesture recognition features, and up to 32GB LPDDR4x RAM.

The new chip supports up to four displays and 12 camera inputs that provide information to assist drivers and passengers. Its imaging systems provide bad pixel correction, dynamic range compression, and geometric distortion correction for clearer images for the car’s cameras for better surround view and parking assistance. For the car’s sound system, it has three HiFi 4 audio processors for better audio. Lastly, it also offers data protection and provides a hardware key using a one-time programmable (OTP) or physical unclonable function (PUF).

The Exynos Auto V7 is currently in mass production and is being used in Volkswagen’s latest In-Car Application-Server (ICAS) 3.1, developed by LG Electronics’ VS (Vehicle component Solutions) division, to power their next-generation in-vehicle infotainment system.

For the S2VPS01, it’s an ASIL-B certified power management IC for the Exynos Auto V Series. It’s designed for the Exynos Auto V9 and V7 to regulate and rectify the flow of electrical power, allowing reliable and robust in-vehicle infotainment system performance. In other words, it will protect the car’s system from short-circuiting and overvoltage.