British company Arm, a leader in the core semiconductor design field for smartphones, has unveiled technology for an 'AI automotive brain' aimed at the automotive market in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
On the 5th, Arm held a press conference at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, and publicly introduced the automotive-specific AI integrated computing platform 'Zena Computing Subsystem (CSS),' which can accelerate the development and release of 'AI-defined vehicles (AIDV)' by more than a year. This reflects its ambition to extend its technological prowess and ecosystem from the mobile market into the automotive sector.
'Zena CSS' refers to a 'semi-finished product set' that bundles essential components and software frameworks needed to create the 'brain' of a vehicle. Automakers can utilize this set to reduce complex initial design and verification time and focus on adding specialized AI features themselves. Arm explained that this platform can reduce semiconductor (silicon) development time by up to 12 months and related engineering resources by about 20%.
Arm's introduction of an integrated platform specialized for automobiles comes as vehicle internal systems have become highly complex in the AI era. Hwang Seon-wook, CEO of Arm Korea, noted, 'As the AI era becomes established, automakers need an environment where differentiation can be built on a computing foundation that ensures stability and security, AI scalability tailored for various vehicle types, and rapid market entry.' He explained that the platform was developed based on Arm's low-power, high-performance design technology and broad ecosystem to meet industry demands.
Through this announcement, Arm presented a vision to open the era of 'AI-defined vehicles (AIDV),' where AI leads the entire process of vehicle cognition, judgment, and action, moving beyond software-defined vehicles (SDV). Hwang noted, '100% of new electric vehicle companies are adopting Arm technology.' In fact, most global automakers, including Tesla and Mercedes-Benz, are currently using Arm technology as their core computing platform.
Hwang pointed out that a key strength of the Zena CSS is supporting manufacturers to rapidly implement complex AI functions into vehicles and present them to the market. He explained that it can achieve intelligent voice recognition, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving features more quickly, ultimately shortening the typical new vehicle launch schedule for automakers by more than a year.
In increasing development speed, Arm's 'virtual prototyping' environment plays a crucial role. Kim Tae-yong, Director of Field Application Engineering at Arm Korea, explained, 'Software development can begin even before silicon (semiconductor chips) are produced, allowing us to shorten the development schedule while creating high-quality solutions.' Arm stated that it collaborates with major partners such as AWS, Cadence, Siemens, and Synopsys to provide a cloud-based virtual platform for Zena CSS, which can potentially accelerate software development by up to two years.
Furthermore, Arm emphasized that its latest processor design technology, the Armv9 architecture, is consistently applied from data centers to vehicles, ensuring continuity and scalability in development. This allows automakers to effectively reuse software across their lineup. Arm plans to support industry innovation through its vast developer ecosystem of more than 20 million worldwide and the open standard consortium (SOAFEE) involving over 150 corporations.
Hwang stated, 'Zena CSS is not a single technology but a foundational platform that connects the entire ecosystem and expands the value chain.' He expressed confidence that 'the future of the automotive industry is clearly moving in the direction defined by AI, and Zena CSS will play a crucial role in realizing this.'