The new domestic car making force "Weixiaoli" is actively developing self-developed intelligent driving chips. Recently, it was reported that NIO's self-developed intelligent driving chip "Shenji NX9031" has been taped out, and insiders revealed that "it is currently being tested." According to the plan, Shenji 9031 will be first installed on NIO's flagship sedan ET9 in the first quarter of 2025.
In addition, Baidu's "Apollo Go" recently ignited a car hailing craze on driverless websites, and the AI chip Kunlun chip behind it is rumored to be manufactured by the most advanced foundry instead of Samsung.
Industry insiders have revealed that the production of smart driving chips involves several key stages, such as chip design, physical layer design, manufacturing preparation, chip fabrication, testing, and validation. After the chip is produced, it also needs to undergo testing and verification, which is a huge workload. Therefore, in addition to the team of the car factory itself, it will also rely on the cooperation of ASIC and wafer foundries.
Taking Tesla's FSD chip as an example, the first chip assembly was completed at the end of 2017, but it was not until March 2019 that it began to be installed, during which it underwent multiple modifications and tests. In addition, recently, Baidu's Apollo Go uses the second generation Kunlun core of the self-developed AI chip, which has also been verified and modified for many years.
The first two generations of Kunlun chips were built with the assistance of Samsung wafer foundry, manufactured at 14 and 7nm respectively; However, the legal representative revealed that the next generation of 5-nanometer chips will be produced with the assistance of the most technologically advanced wafer foundry manufacturers. The ADAS chip of Ideal Automobile is operated by Shixin KY and manufactured using the N5A advanced process.
The report states that the average development cost of self-developed intelligent driving chips is extremely high. Taking the 7nm Kunlun chip as an example, the development cost reached 297 million US dollars (2.16 billion yuan). The development cost of the 5nm Ideal ADAS, General Cruise, and NIO Shenji NX9031 reached 540 million US dollars (3.928 billion yuan).
According to previous reports, in addition to NIO, Xiaopeng is also accelerating the development of its own intelligent driving chips. According to reports, Xiaopeng Motors' self-developed intelligent driving chip has been sent for chip production and is expected to return in August. Xiaopeng has been building a chip team since 2020, and some industry insiders say that the chip production pace of Xiaopeng's intelligent driving chip is similar to that of NIO.
In terms of self-developed chips, the ideal layout time is relatively late, but at the same time, investment is also increasing, with the chip project code name "Schumacher". According to informed sources, "Schumacher" will also complete production within the year to achieve more breakthroughs in the field of intelligent driving.
