Continental and Ambarella have announced a strategic partnership at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. The two companies plan to jointly develop scalable, end-to-end hardware and software solutions based on artificial intelligence, for assisted and automated driving, on the way to autonomous mobility.
The joint venture builds on an announcement made in November by Continental which was that they were to integrate Ambarella’s energy-efficient System-on-Chip family into its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
The company has said that compared to other domain controller SoCs, Ambarella’s “CV3-AD” chip family provides higher performance to process sensor data faster and more comprehensively for greater environmental perception and safer mobility, at up to five times higher power efficiency.
The partnership will combine Continental’s software and hardware expertise and a broad portfolio of automotive system solutions with Ambarella’s computer vision, powerful SoCs and software modules.
“We are now able to offer full-stack, scalable vehicle system solutions with the highest performance, from ADAS to high automation, thereby strengthening our leadership position in assisted and automated driving,” said Frank Petznick, Head of the Autonomous Mobility Business Area at Continental. “This strategic partnership with Ambarella is further expanding our broad portfolio and taking us a step closer towards Vision Zero and autonomous mobility.”
Not only will the venture see the development of camera-based solutions for ADAS, the two companies are also focusing on scalable full-stack systems for Level 2+ up to highly automated vehicles.
These full-stack solutions take a multi-sensor approach, including Continental’s high-resolution cameras, radars and lidars, as well as the associated control units and the required software, noted the press release.
“The automotive industry can now take full advantage of Ambarella’s algorithm-first SoC architectures and software IP, in combination with Continental’s global scale and proven track record in commercializing technology for the ADAS and automated mobility markets,” said Fermi Wang, President and CEO of Ambarella. “Together with our partner Continental, we are offering vehicle manufacturers a compelling new option for making vehicles safer, while bringing the promise of advanced automation to fruition and building toward autonomous driving.”
The two companies hope to serve the growing marker for assisted and automated driving, while aiming to pave the way for autonomous mobility. The partners have said that the joint solutions will be ready for global series production in 2026.
Press release and picture: Continental
