Inside Arm’s vision for the “software-defined vehicle” of the future
The digitization of cars has made comparisons to “data centers on wheels” so common that they have become clichéd. It has also created a thriving market for technology companies, few of which have capitalized as well as Arm.
Arm, owned by SoftBank, is often described as the UK’s largest IT company and designs energy-efficient computer chips. The company’s architectures can be found in endless applications from smart cities to laptops, but they are best known for powering mobile devices. About 95% of the world’s smartphones use Arm’s technology.
In recent years, however, the automotive unit has been the company’s fastest-growing division. Arm reportedly has revenues from the sector more than doubled since 2020.
Dennis Laudick, Arm’s vice president of automotive go-to-market, attributes the growth to a convergence of three trends: electrification, automation, and in-vehicle user experience (UX).
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“All of these add more computing power to the vehicle,” he says — and more computing power means more business for Arm.
As the company prepares for a long-awaited IPO, Laudick gave TNW a look at its automotive strategy.
Electric lanes
Gradually, EVs are flooding the car market. Last year, fully electric vehicles accounted for more than 10% of car sales in Europe for the first time. Worldwide, their total sales reached about 7.8 million units – as many as 68% more than in 2022. To serve this growing market, automakers must integrate a complex new collection of electronics.
“When you do that, it becomes a much more complicated system,” says Laudick. “You have to look at even more electronics to manage it, and that makes people rethink their architecture.”
The result is a stronger foundation for more digital functions. Take the all-electric Nissan Leaf, which runs Arm’s Cortex-R4 processor alongside an electric powertrain.
To control the power converter, a microcomputer core must accurately repeat a series of processes – such as sense, computation and control output – for events that occur in 1/10,000 second cycles. In this small calculation window, the system must provide efficient, responsive and precise control.
The Leaf also has a new electronic pedal system, which allows the driver to control the car’s speed by applying pressure to the accelerator pedal.
When the accelerator pedal is fully released, regenerative braking and friction braking are automatically activated, bringing the car to a complete stop – even on steep inclines – until the accelerator pedal is pressed again. And if the driver gets tired, an intelligent cruise control system can automatically adjust the car’s speed to the flow of traffic, while Lane Assist makes subtle steering corrections to keep the car centered.
It’s a nifty package of features, but one that reinvents the whole foundation of a car. The likes of Nissan had spent decades building the controls and architectures that power internal combustion engines (ICEs) for decades. They are now rapidly replacing their hardware with digital operations. The shift has led to a concept called the “software-defined vehicle.”
“The entire industry is aware of this disruption that is changing them from a mechanical mindset to a software mindset – and they are all trying to reinvent themselves,” says Laudick.
“It equates to more powerful electronics.
Undoubtedly, the transition has created new business opportunities for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers, startups and semiconductor companies. But all new features and revenue streams must fit within the tight constraints of power consumption, heat dissipation and physical space.
That’s where Arm wants to step in. The company’s suite of processor IP, tools and software solutions offers the automotive industry the promise of maximizing innovation.
“From our perspective, it basically comes down to more electronics — and more powerful electronics,” says Laudick.
Autonomy rules
The transition to EVs coincided with an expansion of autonomous functions. While level 5 cars have not arrived as quickly as advertised, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), from lane-detection to parking assist, have become commonplace. As a result, applications for Arm’s architectures are rapidly increasing.
“The more autonomous functionality we put in cars, the more exponential the computing requirements are,” says Laudick. “And if you look at some of the data systems that people want to put in cars five years from now, they’re really high-end.”
Right now, Arm powers everything from processors to that Dream Chip Technologies applies to radar for smart electronic fuses that Elmos used to provide stable power. As the use cases increase, so does the demand for chips – and the rules surrounding them.
Both EVs and autonomous features are being pushed by regulators. Governments encourage electrification for environmental reasons and autonomy to prevent accidents.
Several security features will soon be mandatory in the EU. The European Parliament has made measures such as intelligent speed assistance (ISA), advanced emergency braking and lane-keeping technology mandatory in new vehicles from May 2022.
“This will make us all safer.
The lawmakers made a compelling case for their intervention. In 2018, around 25,100 people died on EU roads, while 135,000 were seriously injured. According to EU estimates, ISA alone can reduce fatalities by 20%.
“ISA will provide a driver with feedback, based on maps and road sign observation, whenever the speed limit is exceeded,” said MEP Róża Thun, who helmed the legislation. “We are not introducing a speed limiter, but an intelligent system that makes drivers fully aware when they are speeding. This will not only make us all safer, but also help drivers avoid speeding tickets.”
It’s a similar story for electric vehicles. According to the European Commission, cars are responsible for 12% of total CO2 emissions in the EU. To mitigate the impact, the union recently passed a law require all new cars sold from 2035 to be zero-carbon. In addition, their emissions must be 55% lower from 2030 than in 2021.
The objectives are aimed at accelerating electrification. In theory, this should benefit drivers, passengers, pedestrians – and Arm.
Become flexible
As computing power in the automotive industry shifts from hardware to software, the demand for infotainment and cockpit features is growing. According to Arm, more than 90% of infotainment systems (IVI) in vehicles use the company’s chip designs. The architectures can also be found in several under-the-hood applications, including gauge clusters, e-mirrors, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control.
The shift to the software-defined vehicle has also boosted another IT function: updates. Historically, vehicle software was not only rudimentary, but also quite static. Today that is no longer the case.
“There is an opportunity to further extend the functionality of the vehicle over its lifetime,” says Laudick.
A growing range of functions, from sensor algorithms to user interfaces, can now be improved over-the-air (OTA). Now that cars are starting to look like personal devices, consumers can expect a similar update service. As Simon Humphries, Toyota’s chief branding officer, put it, “People want control over their own experiences.”
Laudick likens modern cars to platforms on which software and functionality can evolve. That’s an obvious magnet for Arm, whose products and processes fundamentally revolve around running software.
Automakers are also getting smarter with software. For example, General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, is now under development its own computer chips for autonomous vehicles. The company has used Arm designs before, but is now exploring an open-source architecture known as RISC-V – which is becoming a popular alternative. The low cost and flexibility of the instruction set have created it a threat to Arm’s automotive ambitions.
“An executive I spoke to said, ‘The best negotiating strategy when Arm comes in is to have a RISC-V brochure on my desk,'” Jim Feldhan, the president of semiconductor consulting firm Semico Research, said last year. ‘It’s a threat. Arm just won’t have his super-dominant position in five or 20 years.
“There has been a movement to create more flexibility.
However, currently RISC-V can be considered riskier than Arm’s established standards. In a further challenge to RISC-V, Arm gradually becomes more open. The Cortex-M processor seriesfor example, now allows customers to add their own instructions, while adding additional configurability to Arm software and tooling.
“Of course we try to control the products reasonably well, otherwise we just get a wild west. But there has been a movement in the company in recent years to create more flexibility in certain areas,” says Laudick.
RISC-V is far from Arm’s only challenger. Established rivals such as Intel and Synopsys are also fighting for a share of the growing automotive chip market.
Still, Laudick is optimistic about the future. He notes that today’s cars contain about 100 million lines of software code, while a Boeing 787 is estimated to have “only” 14 million lines. by 2030, McKinsey predicts that vehicles will expand to about 300 million lines of code.
“I see that the vehicle is without a doubt the most complex software device you will own — if not, it will exist,” says Laudick.
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