New rules to improve auto chip credibility

New rules aim to improve testing credibility as homegrown chips move into mass production and wider vehicle applications.

China has issued five industry standards for assessing organizations involved in auto chip design, testing and certification, as domestically developed automotive-grade chips enter mass production and wider commercial use.

The standards, issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation earlier this month, will take effect on Oct 1. They include one standard setting general assessment requirements and four others addressing the capabilities of chip design organizations, certification bodies and testing institutions. One of the four focuses on testing institutions' capabilities to evaluate auto computing chips.

Unlike product standards, the five documents do not set technical requirements for individual chips. According to the SAMR, they are designed to ensure automotive chip certification reviews are conducted professionally and consistently and that their results are authoritative.

Ji Xuehong, director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center at North China University of Technology, said the standards could make certification more credible and professional by addressing differences in the capabilities of testing institutions. Greater confidence in certification results could reduce repeated testing and related costs and shorten the time needed for chips to be adopted in production vehicles.

Chinese auto chipmaker SiEngine Technology said earlier in August that its NNA100, a 7-nanometer automotive-grade artificial intelligence accelerator chip, had entered mass production, with batch deliveries underway to automakers and first-tier suppliers.

The company said the NNA100 is designed to provide additional computing power for in-vehicle AI models without requiring automakers to replace a vehicle's primary processor or redesign its electronic architecture.

Wang Kai, founder and CEO of SiEngine, said the chip was intended to lower the cost of deploying large AI models and support their use in more vehicles.

An auto chip innovation consortium in Hubei province led by Dongfeng Motor developed the DF30. The automotive-grade microcontroller processes real-time signals and issues control commands to vehicle systems.

The DF30 is designed for applications including powertrain control, body and chassis systems, vehicle information systems and driver-assistance systems.

The DF30 has passed 295 tests covering basic performance, extreme operating conditions and vehicle applications. The chip also underwent winter calibration tests in Mohe, Heilongjiang province, in temperatures as low as — 43 C. By July, the DF30 was being installed in production vehicles in batches, according to Dongfeng.

Chinese technology company Horizon Robotics said its Journey 6M chip provides computing power for a driver-assistance system developed by Carizon, its joint venture with Volkswagen Group.

The system is fitted to Volkswagen Anhui's updated ID. UNYX 06 SUV and new ID. UNYX 07 sedan, which went on sale in China in May and are being delivered to customers. It supports assisted driving on highways as well as automated parking.

Horizon said the Journey 6 chip family has been selected by more than 25 automakers for more than 100 vehicle models, with more than 40 model variants already in mass production.

Ji said automakers are becoming more involved in defining chip specifications based on their vehicle requirements, while chip suppliers need to work more closely with automakers on validation to improve compatibility between chips and vehicles.