Whether we can take the lead in the development of digital automobiles is the key to whether we can truly become a powerful country in automobiles. The so-called dominance is the autonomous control of system-level software and automobile chips.

　　At the end of December 2021, at the end of December last year, Vice Premier Liu He of the State Council gave a speech entitled "I call on everyone to re-understand the new economy" at a meeting. He systematically and thoroughly analyzed the new economy and future development trends. The new economy is being comprehensively It integrates the social and economic structure, and is constantly approaching the direction of the four A's. Anywhere no matter where, Any Time no matter when, Any one no matter who, Any device no matter what kind of equipment. The core of the new economy is the digital economy.

　　The core of the new economy is the digital economy

　　Vice Premier Liu He emphasized that the boundary between the new economy and traditional industries is gradually dissolving, and the new economy is like mercury landing, penetrating everywhere, and entering the automobile, household appliances, oil, steel and even education, finance, insurance and entertainment industries. Here, Vice Premier Liu He put cars first. Because automobiles are an important part of the new economy, the digitization of the automobile industry is not only as simple as the digital car itself, but also closely related to digital transportation, digital cities, green digital energy, and digital travel services, which is of great importance to the reconstruction of the social and economic structure. support.

　　Digitization of automotive products

　　It can be said that the digital transformation of China's auto industry has already started, but the road is still long, and the obstacles and risks on the way forward are not very clear now, but the general direction is certain, that is, the comprehensive digitalization of automobile products and The digitization of the use process, such as OTA, vehicle-road collaboration, digital logistics, etc., as well as the digitization of automobile management, the digitization of the supply chain, the digitization of the production field, and the digitization of energy supply. Among them, the digitization of automobile products is both digitized and the automobile is the digitization of the automobile industry. The foundation of transformation is the foundation for automobiles to move towards the new economy and connect all things. In the process of building digital vehicles, the technical connotation and architecture of automotive products have changed, software and chips have become the core elements, the relationship between traditional OEMs and suppliers, and users has undergone great changes, and the forms of vehicle supply have diversified. Digital automobiles link new materials, new technologies and new industries, and multi-industry integration will change the development pattern of the automobile industry.

　　Whether we can gain dominance in the development of digital automobiles is the key to whether we can truly become an automobile powerhouse. The so-called dominance is the autonomy and control of system-level software (including virtual layers, OS, middleware, etc.) and automotive chips.

　　At present, the underlying OS of the car are mainly LINUX, QNX, and Android. Although there are Hongmeng OS, Zebra OS, and Baidu OS, they have not become mainstream. The localization rate of automotive chips is less than 10%. Moreover, the chip design software EDA is a giant. In the U.S., just last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched an investigation into EDA giant Synopsys for allegedly providing chip designs and software to Huawei’s HiSilicon for production at SMIC, and local chip design architecture IP licensing Basically from the British ARM company, although China already has a large number of chip design companies, the chip production capacity, especially the automotive chip production capacity, basically comes from TSMC and other foundries. There is currently no ADM company in China, which integrates design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. chip company.

　　Under the circumstance that the United States and the West have imposed blockades on China's high-tech companies and imposed sanctions at every turn, if the Chinese auto industry cannot control core technologies and resources such as OS and chips, there will be great uncertainties and risks in the process of auto digitization. At the recent closed-door meeting of the Council of 100 Electric Vehicles, the former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Miao Wei, made a research report on the automotive operating system. Minister Miao Wei believes that the automotive operating system is the soul of the car, and it is completely dependent on foreign open and semi-open systems. Not safe. At present, there is a consensus on building a local car OS, local chip executives and the industry, but the understanding of what path to take is not completely consistent. I think there are three aspects that need to be unified:

　　First, the car operating system is closely related to the car chip. The same chip architecture should be suitable for different OSs, and each OS should also be compatible with different chip architectures. Without the large-scale development and application of Chinese local chips, there will be no real local OS. Therefore, if the OS and chips are to be independently controllable, it is necessary to break the barriers in the field of automobiles and chips, and the OS and chips should be developed and industrialized together.

　　Second, facing the new demands of intelligent networking, such as cockpit domain, vehicle control domain, intelligent driving domain, central domain, etc., vehicle, TIER1, and chip companies jointly define and jointly develop large chips suitable for future needs, SOC, New MCUs, such as Qualcomm's 8155, are jointly defined and jointly developed by Bosch and Qualcomm. To establish a joint mechanism and platform, under the background of huge demand, local chips must have opportunities.

　　Third, it is impossible to build an OS overnight. It also requires system software suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, and chip companies to form a cooperative ecosystem. It is possible to mature through continuous trial and error and iteration of applications. In this process, it may not be only one company that dominates, but the market-oriented mechanism is used to see who has a good ecology, who has a good openness, a good business model, and who can go fast. In the end, it is possible to succeed in the localization of automotive chips. Under the prospect that the rate will be greatly improved, it is estimated that in 5-8 years, there will be 2-3 local OSs that will become the mainstream of the market. The government is an important promoter to realize the autonomous control of automotive OS and automotive-grade chips, such as the formulation of relevant standards, the deployment of chip design architecture IP capabilities at the national level, the cultivation of EDA autonomy capabilities, and the deployment of dedicated production capacity for automotive chips.

　　With the active participation of many companies, AUTOSEMO has carried out some work in middleware, functional layer, and SOA architecture. In the future, it hopes to become an independent OS ecological platform. Together with China Automotive Chip Alliance and AUTOSEMO ecological partners, in the words of Minister Miao , to promote the in-depth cooperation of vehicle, TIER1, and chip companies in OS and chip development, and make some contributions to independent control.

　　This article is reproduced from Gasgoo