The next wave of AI-powered automotive innovation

In this Exec Talk blog, Dr. Ephrem Anthony Chemaly, VP and GM at MediaTek’s Automotive Business, explores how MediaTek is unlocking new AI capabilities in vehicles.

For as long as cars have been around, people have enjoyed customizing their vehicles to suit their personality and lifestyle. Now, AI is taking customization possibilities to the next level—you can do so much more than painting your car a different color or modifying the engine. Deep learning is bringing vehicles more personalized and intuitive computing experiences. With AI, vehicles can learn about our needs, preferences, and even anticipate what we want.

Person-centric vs. Car-centric Technologies

AI capabilities in vehicles can be divided into two main categories: person-centric and car-centric. Drowsiness detection is a great example of a person-centric technology, alerting drivers if they are falling asleep to help prevent accidents. The European Union has mandated that all vehicles sold after July 2024 are equipped with driver drowsiness and attention warning (DDAW) systems, and we’ll continue to see a demand for this capability across the globe.

Vehicles can also use AI for emotion and cognition recognition. If someone is showing signs of being stressed, their vehicle might suggest a relaxing playlist. A few other examples of person-centric technologies include health monitoring—e.g. identifying if someone is driving impaired or having a medical issue—and biometric authentication.

Car-centric technologies are focused on the vehicle itself. Consider how AI enables more intelligent traffic prediction and routing; your vehicle will not only use GPS to navigate, but it will also consider your preferences, such as your favorite routes for driving home or to work. AI is also powering safety and ADAS advancements, along with predictive maintenance and other helpful features.

A Personal Assistant in Your Car

Many of us already use voice assistants on a daily basis, whether it’s dictating text messages while you’re on the move or controlling your smart home devices without getting up from the couch. In vehicles, voice assistants are not just a convenience—hands-free technology is critical for safety. AI advancements are making it possible for drivers to control their infotainment system without taking their hands off the wheel.

AI is now also enabling a two-way communication channel between you and your vehicle. You can do so much more than just asking your car to play a specific song or adjust the temperature; chatbots will make it possible to have a conversation with your vehicle. To help bring conversational experiences into vehicles, MediaTek is collaborating with Sensory. Imagine you’re driving to work, and you need to brush up on a particular topic; instead of asking a colleague to share an overview and then peppering them with questions, you can get the information you need from the chatbot. Of course, there are certainly limitations, but it’s still fun to think about the possibilities.

How MediaTek Powers Edge-AI Experiences

To bring advanced AI capabilities to the next generation of vehicles, at the recent GTC 2024 event MediaTek unveiled four new chipsets designed for the AI cockpit of the future: Dimensity Auto Cockpit C-X1, C-Y1, C-M1, and C-V1. With support for NVIDIA DRIVE OS, Dimensity Auto Cockpit makes it easy for automakers to scale AI capabilities across their entire line-up.

To make AI experiences seamless, the Dimensity Auto Cockpit chipsets integrate a state-of-the-art ARM v9-A system and NVIDIA’s next-gen GPU accelerated AI computing and NVIDIA RTX graphics, allowing vehicles to run LLMs at the edge. Running applications locally not only offers speed and latency benefits, it also offers better privacy protection. Moreover, edge-AI processing enables vehicles to offer more personalized experiences, without having to send users’ data to the cloud.

A New World of Entertainment

Dimensity Auto Cockpit supports rich content delivery and high-speed telematics to multiple displays so every seat in the car provides incredible entertainment. Passengers can seamlessly stream their favorite movies and TV shows to stay entertained even on long car rides.

Additionally, MediaTek is driving a new wave of in-vehicle gaming. Dimensity Auto Cockpit integrates an NVIDIA RTX GPU, which supports ray tracing for realistic visuals and lighting effects in games. Plus, the chipsets support AI upscaling and frame generation for fast, fluid action.

Passengers can even take advantage of advanced video conferencing features, including AI gaze correction and AI-based audio enhancement, to stay connected with their friends and family while they are on the road.

Beyond the Cockpit

The Dimensity Auto family leverages MediaTek’s decades of experience in mobile, connectivity, and multimedia to bring a complete product portfolio to the automotive industry. The platform combines the key capabilities that MediaTek is known for—including high-performance computing, impressive AI, extensive feature integration, and innate energy efficiency—while meeting rigorous automotive-grade reliability standards. Along with Dimensity Auto Cockpit, the platform includes Dimensity Auto Connect, which provides high-speed telematics and top-performance Wi-Fi networking technologies. Dimensity Auto Drive offers a scalable and comprehensive open platform powered by NVIDIA with intelligent assist and autonomous driving solutions, while Dimensity Auto Components provides reliable automotive-grade chipsets and stand-alone components for always-connected vehicles.

As we think about the next generation of automotive innovation, it’s also important to make sure these technologies are accessible. MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto portfolio allows carmakers to deliver advanced AI across different segments, from premium to entry-level vehicles.

At MediaTek, we believe that the possibilities of AI are endless, extending far beyond the automotive industry. MediaTek powers more than two billion devices a year, including smartphones, smart TVs, voice assistant devices, and many other devices with the latest AI capabilities. To learn more about how MediaTek is transforming AI experiences across different segments, please visit: https://i.mediatek.com/exectalk.