BYD Launches Xuanji A3 4 Nanometer Self Driving Chip with Multi Chip Architecture Providing 2100 TFLOPS for Autonomous Levels L3 and L4 Supported by Vertical Integration and Five Semiconductor Plants
BYD, the car manufacturer, also unveiled its own 4 nanometer processor named Xuanji A3. From the information gathered from an official presentation made by the company itself, this piece of hardware is designed to provide the processing capability required for autonomous driving L3 and L4 integration levels. While announcing the chip at the new product release BYD also proclaimed that this is the most capable self driving processor developed in China.
In regard to the processing structure it makes use of a multi chip set up, where 3 separate chips working together provide a maximum of 2100 TFLOPS of computational power as was explained by engineers at BYD, an amount of computing power capable of supporting the complex algorithmic requirements of navigation and object detection. At level L3 automation system controls driving but human vigilance is still needed whereas at level L4 automation the car can drive without human assistance but under defined routes like highways.
With this processor on production, BYD becomes the first car maker in the world to maintain total vertical integration of the entire autonomous driving supply chain as it deals with the design of the chip and its physical manufacturing in its own facilities. This reduces dependence on third party providers and allows optimization of hardware towards BYD vehicles.
Capital investment and semiconductor production capabilities
This latest development comes after years of major capital investments. BYD has been putting in a total of 14,700,000,000 dollars in chip research and manufacturing since its microelectronics branch was founded back in 2002, and it now runs five of its own fully operational semiconductor plants throughout China for all of its vehicles.
