AMD recently announced that its adaptive computing technology is providing support for the next generation LiDAR platform of DENSO, a leading component supplier. This new platform will achieve a resolution improvement of over 20 times with extremely low latency, thereby improving detection accuracy in areas such as pedestrians, vehicles, and driving areas. The electric lidar platform is planned to be shipped in 2025, and AMD Xilinx XA Zynq will be used ™ UltraScale+ ™ Adaptive SoC and its Functional safety development tool suite to achieve ISO 26262 ASIL-B certification

Dianzhuang is using AMD XA Zynq UltraScale+system on chip (MPSoC) platform for its single photon Avalanche diode (SPAD) lidar system, which can generate the leading point cloud density level among all lidar systems on the market today. The point cloud density reflects the number of laser foot points in a given area, similar to image resolution, where richer data ensures the capture of key decision details. Generally speaking, SPAD based systems are widely adopted by car manufacturers due to their ability to save space. The highly flexible and adaptable vehicle grade Zynq UltraScale+MPSoC allows the electric LiDAR system to reduce the size of the current LiDAR implementation scheme, allowing multiple LiDARs to work together to obtain the front and side views of the vehicle. A single device can be used for multiple electronic LiDAR systems, including future generations, which not only reduces system costs but also helps prepare for future designs.

Currently, vehicles in production may only be equipped with one forward looking LiDAR, while the next generation of vehicles will be equipped with multiple systems, including forward looking, rear looking, and side looking LiDAR. To surpass assisted driving and achieve fully autonomous driving, additional systems are needed. In addition, electric LiDAR can also be used for infrastructure monitoring, factory automation, and other non autonomous driving applications.

Eiichi Kurokawa, Director of the Electrical Sensing Systems Division of Corporation, stated: "When we launch the next generation of lidar system, we are very happy to expand our cooperation with AMD. AMD's high-performance, highly scalable and programmable chips provide unique advantages, which can meet the image processing requirements of our extremely complex lidar architecture. It is the flexibility and functionality of Zynq UltraScale+MPSoC platform and its ability to respond to stringent Functional safety requirements that urge us to work together with AMD."

The SPAD LiDAR system equipped with electricity can generate over 3 million points per second at a frame rate of 10 frames per second. This mid range LiDAR system utilizes vehicle grade Zynq UltraScale+MPSoC for system monitoring to help ensure temperature and overall system operation. Due to the use of time to digital conversion instead of analog-to-digital converters in this system, it not only optimizes the overall system size and cost, but also provides high-performance, high-density data.

Mark Wadlington, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Core Markets Division at AMD, stated: Electric equipment has created a very precise LiDAR system. As LiDAR continues to evolve, new technological requirements have emerged, driving the demand for higher sensitivity, density, and performance. With AMD adaptive computing technology, we are helping to reduce system size and footprint, while improving target detection accuracy by increasing resolution, all of which are achieved with extremely low latency

AMD in the automotive industry

As the pace of innovation in the automotive industry continues to accelerate, the demand for high-performance computing power, computing acceleration, and graphics technology is also strengthening. With the industry's rich line of high-performance CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and adaptive SoC products, AMD is at the forefront of this turning point. From in vehicle infotainment system to advanced driving assistance system, automatic driving and Vehicle-to-everything applications and other key Functional safety applications, AMD can provide one-stop services for automobile manufacturers with chip and software solutions.