At the Computex computer show in Taipei, Taiwan, MediaTek announced a partnership with Nvidia to deliver a range of in-vehicle AI (artificial intelligence) cabin solutions for the next generation of software-defined vehicles. The global fabless semiconductor company is looking to bolster the capabilities of its Dimensity Auto platform by tapping Nvidia’s core expertise in AI, cloud, graphics technology, and software, and pairing it with Nvidia ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) solutions.

“With this partnership, our collaborative vision is to provide a global one-stop shop for the automotive industry, designing the next generation of intelligent, always-connected vehicles,” said Rick Tsai, Vice Chairman and CEO of MediaTek. “Through this special collaboration with Nvidia, we will together be able to offer a truly unique platform for the compute-intensive, software-defined vehicle of the future.”

MediaTek will develop automotive SoCs (systems on chips) integrating a new Nvidia GPU (graphics processing unit) chiplet with Nvidia AI and graphics IP (intellectual property). The chiplet features an ultra-fast chip-to-chip and die-to-die interconnect for connection with GPUs, CPUs (central processing units), and SoCs.

“AI and accelerated computing are fueling the transformation of the entire auto industry,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of Nvidia. “The combination of MediaTek’s industry-leading SoC and Nvidia’s GPU and AI software technologies will enable new user experiences, enhanced safety, and new connected services for all vehicle segments from luxury to mainstream.”

MediaTek’s smart cabin solutions will run Nvidia Drive OS, Drive IX, CUDA, and TensorRT software technologies to deliver a range of AI cabin and cockpit functions with cutting-edge graphics, AI, safety, and security features.

The partnership highlights the companies’ belief in the significant market opportunity inside the vehicle. According to a recent Gartner report and Nvidia calculations, the total addressable market for infotainment and instrument cluster SoCs used within vehicles will reach $12 billion in 2023.

Announced in April at the AutoShanghai, the Dimensity Auto platform leverages MediaTek’s expertise in mobile computing, high-speed connectivity, entertainment, and the Android ecosystem to deliver a smarter vehicle experience in four areas: Cockpit, Connect, Drive, and Components. Building on MediaTek’s mobile chipset brand, Dimensity Auto represents the company’s expertise in performance, power efficiency, and SoC integration combined with automotive-grade reliability standards.

“With the Dimensity Auto platform solutions, we are extending MediaTek’s technological advantages in the automotive segment to the next level,” said Jerry Yu, Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of the CCM Business Group at MediaTek. “Our goal is to leverage decades of expertise across several categories in technology to deliver the smart life on wheels as we work together with the world’s top automotive brands to create a more intuitive, immersive, safe, and comfortable driving experience.”

While MediaTek has been dabbling in the automotive industry, with the new in-cabin user experience focus “we are reinvigorating this approach to this market by partnering with Nvidia,” said Ephrem Chemaly, General Manager & Vice President of Automotive, at MediaTek. “Specifically, MediaTek will develop the automotive SOCs integrating Nvidia’s GPU chiplet with their AI technology and the graphic IP into the MediaTek SOCs.”

One of the unique aspects of the collaboration is the merging of IP on a single chip, said Danny Shapiro, Vice President of Automotive, at Nvidia. Added to the MediaTek SOC technology is Nvidia’s GPU chiplet showcased at the high end in its Grace Hopper superchip designed for giant-scale AI and high-performance computing applications.

“It’s an ultrafast chip-to-chip, die-to-die interconnect that allows custom dies to coherently interconnect GPUs and CPUs and SOCs—so really advanced technology now available for MediaTek to integrate,” added Shapiro.

Dimensity Auto Cockpit is designed to be the world’s fastest smart cockpit, bringing MediaTek’s flagship-grade experience in smart home and entertainment to vehicles. The portfolio of solutions features hardware and software scalability, high-performance AI multi-processors equipped with deep learning accelerators and vision processing units, and a high-performance 3-nm AI processor. MiraVision technology supports multiple displays, up to 8K 120-Hz screens in HDR, as well as multiple HDR cameras and dedicated DSPs for microphone audio processing.

MediaTek says that its wireless communication technology portfolio gives it an advantage in future always-connected vehicles. Using a combination of high-speed telematics and top-performance Wi-Fi networking, Dimensity Auto Connect features automotive communication technologies based on 3GPP open standards including MediaTek 5G NTN (non-terrestrial network) satellite communications technology and 5G RedCap for better performance than 4G. Its sub-6GHz 5G with carrier aggregation extends the range and provides multi-gigabit data speeds, Wi-Fi 7 equipped with MediaTek’s unique hardware offload technology saves CPU computing resources, and its comprehensive GNSS coverage gives more accurate positioning.

The two other components of the Dimensity Auto platform—Drive and Components—are the most outside of MediaTek’s comfort zone but represent a big opportunity for expansion. While details were very limited, the company believes that its AI processing units give Dimensity Auto Drive an open platform to provide partners with intelligent assistance and autonomous driving solutions. Dimensity Auto Components encompasses automotive-grade chipsets and stand-alone components having better power management with support for flexible OLED screens, multi-display options for electric vehicles, and positioning and navigation even in underground parking structures, tunnels, and other satellite dead zones.